(This article, which originally appeared in the Montreal Gazette, courtesy of the Pro-Life Infonet email newsletter. For more information or to subscribe go to www.prolifeinfo.org or email infonet@prolifeinfo.org.)
Montreal, Canada — In what might be a world first, doctors at Royal
Victoria Hospital in Montreal transfused a woman suffering from leukemia
with the umbilical-cord blood of her baby daughter.
Seven months later, 27-year-old Patrizia Durante is in complete remission
and credits her daughter with saving her life.
“I gave my daughter life, and then she gave mine back,” Ms. Durante said
yesterday, cradling 13-month-old Victoria. “It's a miracle. She was meant
to be born to save me.”
Umbilical-cord blood is usually banked for later use by the child should
she develop a life-threatening illness such as leukemia. Dr. Pierre
Laneuville, director of hematology at the McGill University Health Centre,
said he believes the offspring-to-parent transplant is the first of its
kind in the world.
Ms. Durante's case highlights the growing interest by doctors in using
umbilical cord blood as an effective alternative to bone-marrow
transplants. “We're elated,” Dr. Laneuville said. “This is the best-case
scenario we could possibly have imagined…. From a doctor's point of view,
the chances are she's cured.”
Umbilical cord blood is rich in hemopoietic stem cells — the kind of cells
that can rebuild a blood system damaged by heavy doses of chemotherapy. In Ms. Durante's case, the stem cells regenerated her blood system and destroyed the residual cancer cells in her body.
“We are now in an era where we are realizing scientifically and medically
that we have sources of stem cells that can become other tissues and can be used therapeutically,” Dr. Laneuville said. “And the most accessible source
and the one we're throwing in the garbage all the time are these cord
cells.”
Durante, a Laval financial advisor, learned she was suffering from acute
myloid leukemia when she was 26 weeks pregnant with Victoria, her first
child.
“It was terrifying,” she recalled. “I was afraid for the baby. I was afraid
of dying and not being there for my daughter. It was very stressful and
difficult for my family.”
Durante underwent moderate doses of chemotherapy while pregnant. She did
not respond to the drugs, so her doctors decided to induce labour so they
could switch to high doses without risking harm to the baby. On Sept. 2,
2001, Victoria was born two months premature, weighing three-and-a-half
pounds. She was placed in an incubator while her mother renewed her
chemotherapy.
At the time, doctors were looking for a suitable donor for a bone-marrow
transplant, even though Victoria's umbilical-cord blood had been frozen in
liquid nitrogen. But by last March, Ms. Durante was severely ill and she
could not wait any longer for a bone-marrow transplant.
Dr. Laneuville decided to infuse her with Victoria's cord blood, although
the procedure was risky because Durante's body might have rejected the
blood.
Ideally, individuals should be infused with their own banked cord blood.
Victoria's blood, however, was only a half-match, carrying her mother's
genes as well as her father's.
“But in this case, the incompatibility — that is, the genes that the
baby's dad contributed — theoretically could have been very beneficial in
this transplant,” Dr. Laneuville said.
“Part of the blood cells include the immune system. There was the
possibility that the immune system of the baby may identify the leukemia as
foreign and attack. That's something that's beneficial.”
The baby's cord blood did exactly that to her mother's leukemia. The stem
cells also flooded Ms. Durante's bloodstream and stuck to her bone marrow
— the part of the body that manufactures the blood — and began rebuilding
her blood system.
“So what is circulating in her veins now is actually her baby's blood,” he
said. “She has her baby's blood system in her at the present time.”
Dr. Laneuville said “mismatched” cord blood might be effective in
controlling Ms. Durante's type of cancer, but stressed cord blood
transplants should be used only as a last resort.
Scientists are also studying whether stem cells derived from cord blood can
repair damaged heart and brain tissue. Preliminary results from animal
studies are promising. Doctors are now carrying out clinical trials on
humans in the United States and Europe to determine whether such stem cells can repair damaged heart muscle.
Unlike embryonic stem cells — which have sparked a huge ethical debate —
stem cells from cord blood are free of any moral considerations.
Dr. Laneuville urged authorities to set up a public cord blood bank for
research and therapeutic purposes.
