For doctors and scientists, research into stem-cells and their application in disease-treatment is one of the most exciting new areas of work. Stem cells are master cells or primal cells which have the ability to renew themselves and grow into a wide range of different cell types. They are nascent blood cells in the blood marrow which have the knowledge and capability to grow into different blood cells — and any organ cells at that.

 As such, once healthy stem-cells are harvested they can be injected into a diseased part of the body for growing a healthier new organ. For eg, once a heart’s muscles are damaged from a heart attack, the stem cells injected there can grow into new heart-muscle cells thus giving the patient a stronger heart. Stem cells can similarly be used for treating leg ulcers in diabetics, nerve damage in spinal-injury patients, blood disorders like thalassemia, blood cancer, etc.

In India, interest in stem-cell use in thalassemia is increasing considering the growing burden of this disorder on the country— every year 10,000 new cases are being reported among newborns adding to the existing 40 lakh patients. In fact, many other blood disorders like aplastic anaemia, and blood cancers like lymphoma, myeloma, leukemia are using stem-cells for curing, and/or increasing the life-expectancy of the patient, and  giving him a better quality of life.

A bone-marrow transplant, used in thalassemia treatment, is a technique of introducing a donor’s healthy stem cells into the diseased recipient. The source for stem cells is the bone marrow, hence this name. Generally, a sibling is the ideal donors since they have the best antigen match. And in India this is the most common source. But there are not enough such sibling donors. In such cases, unrelated blood donors could fill the gap but unfortunately again, this is rare in India unlike the West especially USA, where an international registry for blood-marrow donation is maintained. Actually, the annual figure for USA is about 40,000 transplants while in India, just about 400 transplants are done every year. Incidentally, another source of stem cells is cord blood or stem cells from the umbilical cord of the same person which has been saved and stored at his/her birth.

In India, there is thus a great interest in stem-cell transplant as also a need for more widespread knowledge in this field whether among doctors or patients’ families. So, when a CME in Stem Cell Transplant  was held recently, it attracted a lot of attention, especially since it had a host of well-known specialists from across India and a few from USA participate as invited faculty, speakers, and chairpersons for the various sessions. The CME was hosted by Department of Hematology, Medical Oncology and Transplant, Manipal Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Manipal Hospital, Bangalore. The day-long seminar  was also interactive as the experts fielded questions from the audience which included doctors, hospital administrators and scientists.

The seminar focused on the role of stem-cell transplant in the field of benign and malignant haemotological conditions.

Aruna Chandaraju