An older drug appears to help blood cancer patients accept stem cell transplants from a wider range of donors The drug, cyclophosphamide, helps patients accept stem cells donated from partially matched strangers About 4 in 5 patients who received a stem cell donation from an unrelated person were still alive a year later TUESDAY, May 28, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- An older drug used in a new way could open the path for more patients with potentially deadly blood cancers to receive a lifesaving stem cell transplant, a new study finds. The drug, cyclophosphamide, could help patients receive a stem cell transplant even if the donor isn’t a relative and only partially matches their blood type, researchers report. Blood cancer patients had a high survival rate of 79% at one year after receiving a stem cell transplant from a stranger followed up by treatment with cyclophosphamide, researchers found.
“The outcomes seem to be very comparable to those of a fully matched donor,” said researcher , a physician-scientist with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Administering cyclophosphamide several days after transplantation can help patients avoid graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), a deadly side effect in which the transplant mounts an immune attack on the patient. GvHD typically occurs in 60% to 80% of transplants in which the donor and recipient aren’t related, according to the National Institutes of Health.
But after one year, about half (51%) patients in the new .
