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Northwestern U.: Northwestern U. Study Uses Stem Cells to Strengthen Immune System
By Joanna Allerhand
U-Wire
Daily Northwestern
06 February 2006
U-WIRE-02/06/2006-Northwestern U.: Northwestern U. study uses stem cells to strengthen immune system (C) 2006 Daily Northwestern Via U-WIRE
EVANSTON, Ill. -- A recent Northwestern University study found that a new treatment using stem cells might extend the lives of patients with lupus. Stem cell treatments could help patients with severe cases who have not responded to other options, according to a study published in the Feb. 1 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Lupus is a disease that causes patients' immune systems to become unable to distinguish between foreign substances and normal parts of the body. This causes the immune system to attack the patient's own cells and tissues instead of protecting them.
Researchers, including Richard Burt of NU's Feinberg School of Medicine, altered patient stem cells to replace the supply of some forms of white blood cells. These cells are involved in the immune system and often are defective in patients with lupus.
After the stem cells were extracted, patients' existing white blood cells were destroyed using strong drug treatments similar to chemotherapy.
The altered stem cells were then replaced in patients' bodies to produce new white blood cells.
Of the 48 patients who received stem cell transplants, about 50 percent were disease-free five years later.
A potential risk associated with this treatment is that while the patients' existing white blood cells are being destroyed, patients are more susceptible to an infection.
The study called for further research comparing survival rates of stem cell transplant patients with those who undergo traditional treatment.
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