Improving cord blood transplants
They began with a discovery in zebrafish in 2007, and now researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) have published initial results of a Phase Ib human clinical trial of a therapeutic that could improve the success of blood stem cell transplantation. This marks the first time that HSCI has carried a discovery from the lab bench to the clinic, fulfilling the promise of Harvard’s major commitment to such research by founding the institute nine years ago. The Phase Ib safety study, published in the journal Blood, included 12 adult patients undergoing umbilical cord blood transplantation for leukemia or lymphoma at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Each patient received two umbilical cord blood units, one untreated and the other treated with the small molecule 16,16-dimethyl prostaglandin E2 (dmPGE2). All 12 patients had reconstitution of their immune systems and renewed blood formation, and 10 of the 12...