9. Bone marrow transplantation Flashcards
Which organ is most resistant to radiation?
CNS
What is a marker of stem cells?
CD34
What is the most expensive and risky elective procedure offered by the health service?
Bone marrow transplant
What is the risk of dying from a bone marrow transplant?
> 50%
How does an autologous transplant work?
- Give growth factor to patient.
- You obtain a CD34+ population of cells from the bone marrow, within which you will find some stem cells
- These are preserved in the freezer
- A high dose of chemotherapy is given to eradicate the bone marrow
- Then you would thaw and reinfuse the stem cells
(6. High dose chemotherapy is also given?)
Who is an autologous transplant suitable for?
Suitable for: acute leukaemia, solid tumours, autoimmune disease
What are the three most common reasons for bone marrow transplantation?
Myeloma, lymphoma, CLL
When is allogeneic transplant used?
- This is used when the patient’s disease is very unlikely to be eradicated from the bone marrow by standard chemotherapy.
- Therefore, you give them a high dose of chemoradiotherapy which completely ablates the bone marrow (malignant and normal cells).
- Then you give them some bone marrow from a healthy donor.
Who is allogeneic transplant suitable for?
Acute leukaemia, chronic leukaemia, myeloma, lymphoma, bone marrow failure, congenital immune deficiencies.
What is the issue with allogeneic bone marrow transplantation?
The issue with bone marrow transplantation, is that the donor immune cells can recognise the patient as foreign and tries to set up a massive immune reaction
What are the principles of transplantation (6 principles)?
- Identify disease that is unlikely to respond to standard treatment.
- Treat patient to remission.
- Identify a donor and collect stem cells.
- Give patient myeloablative therapy.
- Infuse stem cells.
- Continue immunosuppression and support patient through period of cytopaenia.
What are the standard parameters of outcome in transplantation?
Overall survival; disease-free survival; transplant-related mortality; relapse incidence
How do we choose a donor?
Well matched for tissue type (HLA type), ideally a sibling (1 in 4 chance with each sibling). If not, a volunteer unrelated donor or minimally mismatched family member. The probability of having a match with a sibling is = 1-(3/4)^number of siblings.
What are the main classes of HLA based on?
The main classes are based on serological reactions. Serology gives us a low resolution type. It can be increasingly specified by DNA sequencing. Allele frequency also vary depending on ethnicity of patient.
What types of stem cell harvesting are there?
Bone marrow sampling, peripheral blood sampling and umbilical cord stem cells
How does bone marrow sampling work?
- Difficult because it involves anaesthetising the patient and sampling some bone marrow from their pelvis (hip bone).
- Puncturing the bone and getting into the medulla damages it, meaning that the first few millilitres that you collect will contain stem cells, however, the rest of it will be blood flooding into the damages site
- So, you will need to keep re-puncturing the bone, collecting a small amount at a time until you have a good harvest.