Bone Marrow Transplant Disease Predictable: Study
Posted on: Friday, 17 February 2006, 00:30 CST
By Joanne Morrison
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers can predict which bone marrow transplant patients will likely develop a deadly complication a week after the procedure and well before any symptoms occur, according to a study released on Friday.
Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center found that elevated levels of a protein called tumor necrosis factor, or TNF, measured a week after patients received bone marrow transplants, were found among those who later developed the deadly complication called graft vs. host disease.
"This suggests we could target patients to prevent graft vs. host disease based on their post-transplant level of TNF. If we can develop a test that can reliably predict this complication, we can then look at treating it before symptoms develop," said the study's author, John Levine.
While bone marrow transplants offer hope for people with certain cancers that no longer respond to conventional treatment, as many as half of the patients who undergo the procedure develop graft vs. host disease, with about 30 percent of transplant patients dying from it.
It is a deadly condition in which transplanted immune cells attack the patient's skin, liver and gastrointestinal cells and ultimately can trigger a massive inflammatory reaction that can kill the patient.
The study, presented at the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplant's annual meeting in Honolulu, looked at 170 patients, 94 of whom went on to develop graft vs. host disease. Those 94 patients had elevated levels of the tumor necrosis factor protein a week after their transplants.
Researchers also found that patients whose TNF level was elevated at seven days had a 20 point lower survival rate: 62 percent were alive after a year, compared with 85 percent of those patients with a lower TNF level.
"This is one small step in a long road to making transplants safer and more effective," said Levine.
Source: REUTERS
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