Combination of Cord Blood and Bone Marrow to Treat Thalassemia

In Kolkata, India, a five-year-old child is being treated for Thalassemia in a pioneering treatment that uses a combination of cord blood and bone marrow stem cells.

Cord blood was collected from the patient’s sister at birth. Now, at three-years-old, she will also be donating bone marrow stem cells to aid in her brother’s treatment. According to the boy’s doctor at the Netaji Subhas Cancer Research Institute, this treatment could present a complete cure for the disease.

The doctors stated that cord blood may not present enough stem cells to completely cure Thalassemia while bone marrow stem cells lead to a higher instance of Graft v. Host Disease. By combining the two types of cells, researchers hope that they will complement each other to create a treatment that will completely cure the condition.

Treatment combining both cord blood and bone marrow stem cells has been used in locations like Greece and China, where it has been proved to be successful. Doctors in India took a cue from these two countries, which also present high instances of Thalassemia, and hope that they will see similar success by combining cord blood and bone marrow treatments.