Cord Blood Stem Cells Information

Stem Cell Transplant?

Hello Everyone, Can anyone tell me about Stem Cell Transplants to help treat Breast Cancer and Cancer cells on the liver. Any informationon Stem Cells in regards to Cancer would be helpful. Thank You in advance for you time reading and answering this question. P.S. Please don't just answer to get points. I really want to know about this and any information is helpful. Again Many Thanks.

Public Comments

1. viacord.com
2. Stem cells are the cells in our body that are not yet speciallized, so they can duplicate themselves to replace any of the cells in our bodies. Early in development, the stem cells do differentiate a bit. For example: there are blood stem cells that can become any type of blood cell, but they can no longer become other types of cells. It is my understanding that the use of stem cells to treat cancer involves extracting the appropriate tissue type (I will continue using the blood example), then finding a stem cell or cells. These can be returned to the body after cancer treatment. So, if one had cancer in which the bone marrow had to be destroyed (that is where blood is formed), then after the radiation/chemotherapy the stem cells can be stimulated to grow, and used to replace some of what is lost. This is a simplified example, and the details are different for each type of cancer. In some instances scientists have not found the stem cells yet. I think that it might also be possible to recieve a transplant from another person, but this comes with different problems like rejection and immune suppressant medications. The science of stem cells is still very young, so there are always new things discovered. There was just an article in Scientific American about cancer stem cells. I think it came out this month. Hope that helps.
3. http://www.cityofhope.org/annualreport/images/COH_AR_Vision.pdf http://www.cancer.gov/cancer_information/doc.aspx?viewid=10d62d73-1054-4e53-a2b3-125516ad7828
4. The bone marrow is kind of like a stem cell factory that produces blood cells. These cells are very susceptible to chemotherapy. If you have breast cancer and the chemo helped but then the tumor came back but has not spread too much, you may be a candidate for very aggressive chemotherapy. This chemotherapy would be soo strong that it would destroy your bone marrow as well as the cancer cells. You cannot live without the bone marrow being replaced. One way to do this is to give you a bone marrow transplant OR a stem cell transplant. Prior to the very aggressive chemotherapy, you may be able to donate your own stem cells to be saved and then given back after the chemotherapy is done. Most people have a few (very few) stem cells in their peripheral circulation. Drugs can be used to cause more stem cells to be released into your blood and to harvest these cells you are placed on a pheresis machine - sort of like a dialysis machine. When enough stem cells are collected they are tested and preserved in liquid nitrogen until they are ready to be thawed and infused after the big chemo dose. A few tricky problems: not harvest cancer cells along with the stem cells; to know when you have enough stem cells; to have the procedure done before the cancer spreads;