Good news for cancer patients. Researchers at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital have found a more effective way to combat certain severe forms of leukemia.
Thanks to a collaboration with Seattle researchers, scientists have identified a molecule called UM171 that allows the proliferation of stem cells from umbilical cord blood to treat acute leukemia and myelodysplasia with a high risk of relapse.
“It enables the transplantation of patients with an optimal transplant that contains many stem cells,” explains Dr. Denis-Claude Roy, director of the Institute of Cell Therapy at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital.
“Before, we couldn’t transplant adults. Now we are able to transplant people of large heights, people of adulthood, and obtain extremely interesting results,” he continues.
He states that doctors are now able to fight aggressive leukemias with survival rates of more than 70% after two years.
“These results are encouraging, considering that 30% of affected patients did not achieve significant results after a first stem cell transplant that did not use the UM171 molecule,” specifies the CIUSSS de l'Est-de-l' Île-de-Montréal via press release.
For Dr. According to Roy, the use of umbilical cord stem cells is crucial for people who do not have donors in their family and are not compatible with the global stem cell donor bank.
“We offer them a chance of survival,” he emphasizes.