Patients who receive umbilical cord blood transplants for blood cancer now live equally long, regardless of race, according to a new study from the UVA Cancer Center.
The findings, from Karen Ballen, MD, of UVA Health, and colleagues, suggest that a previously identified survival gap for Black recipients has closed and that overall survival for all recipients has increased.
The retrospective analysis looked at more than 2,600 adults and children with blood cancers who received cord blood between 2007 and 2017 and found that Asian, Black, Latino and Caucasian recipients also survived well.
Black children, however, were more likely to suffer from severe “graft-versus-host” disease, a complication of cord blood transplantation that can cause organ damage and serious infections.
The new knowledge will improve the care of people who need cord blood transplants and show how useful transplants remain for people who do not have a suitable donor in their family.
This retrospective transplant registry study showed that cord blood transplant outcomes are improving for patients of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Karen Ballen, MD, UVA Health
About cord blood transplants
While the number of cord blood transplants performed each year in the United States is declining, cord blood remains a vital lifeline for many patients. Unlike marrow transplants, cord blood does not need to be precisely matched to the recipient. This is particularly helpful for racially/ethnically diverse patients, who often have difficulty finding a perfectly matched unrelated donor.
Cord blood is collected from the umbilical cord and placenta after birth, meaning it is readily available. Researchers found that compatible and non-compatible cord blood worked equally well for transplant recipients. They also determined that the match between patient and donor race was less important than the total number of cord blood cells transplanted – the more, the better. (These cells restore the body’s ability to produce blood cells after high-dose chemotherapy and other cancer treatments.)
Researchers attribute improvements in overall survival among cord blood recipients to several factors, including a better ability to identify suitable patients, newer techniques for matching patients and donors, and improved antibiotics and other supportive care.
UVA’s stem cell transplant/cellular therapy program is part of a comprehensive offering of cutting-edge cancer care offered at the UVA Cancer Center, which has been designated as one of 57 comprehensive cancer centers of the country by the National Cancer Institute. This designation honors elite cancer centers with the nation’s most outstanding cancer care and research programs.
Results published
The researchers published their results in the scientific journal Transplantation and cell therapy.
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