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LSU-N.O. surgery first of its kind * By TED GRIGGS
* Advocate business writer
* Published: May 3, 2008 - Page: 1D - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.
In a scientific first, an LSU doctor has successfully transplanted the stem cells from a baby’s afterbirth to treat a child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer of the bone marrow and blood.
The groundbreaking procedure took place March 28 at LSU Health Sciences Center Children’s Hospital in New Orleans. Dr. Lolie C. Yu, professor of pediatrics, division chief of the Pediatric Heme-Onc Program, used human placenta-derived stem cells and umbilical-cord blood to treat the patient from New Orleans.
“This is obviously the first step, the first step of many, so we’re sort of at the beginning of this journey from a clinical standpoint,” said Celgene Corp. spokesman Greg Geissman. “But it’s also the culmination of a lot of the hard work that has gone on there in Baton Rouge and out here in Warren in New Jersey.”
Yu said it is too early to say whether the addition of cells from the placenta to cord blood is what sped the patient’s recovery, although the child did recover much faster than usual.
“First of all, it is one patient. We cannot solidly say that the addition of placenta-derived stem cells made the difference or not,” Yu said.
However, it usually takes 21 to 42 days for transplanted stem cells to engraft, or start growing and making new white blood cells, Yu said. In this patient, there was evidence of engraftment roughly a week earlier than usual.
The patient was discharged from the hospital one to two weeks earlier compared to traditional cord blood transplants, Yu said.
Dr. Daniel Weisdorf, science director for the National Marrow Donor Program, said cord blood cells have been used for nearly two decades to help restore the bone marrow’s function and rebuilding the immune system.
There also is lots of interesting work that supports the potential that additional stem cells may accelerate blood and bone marrow recovery following a transplant, he said. At this point, it’s not completely clear how the placenta-derived cells work.
“It could be coincidence that this patient recovered in a hurry or it could be an encouraging very early preliminary observation,” he said.
The stem cells and cord blood came from the patient’s sibling, born in December. Baton Rouge-based Celgene Cellular Therapeutics, a subsidiary of New Jersey-based Celgene Corp., a critical role in developing the technology for collecting, processing and storing the cells. LSU collected the cord blood and placenta, which were processed at Celgene’s facility in Warren, N.J.
Celgene, which has a lab at the Bon Carré Business Center on Florida Boulevard, came to Baton Rouge when it acquired a locally based company called Anthrogenisis in 2002.
Geissman said the patient is part of a clinical trial that will determine whether the human placenta-derived stem cells are safe for use in people. Each member of the study will need access to a relative’s cord blood and placenta stem cells. The patients will be monitored for two years after the transplant.
LSU is the chief investigator in the trial, which also includes Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian and Columbia University Medical Center. The trial will include six patients and will be completed by the end of 2013.
For now Celgene will continue to evaluate the treatment’s potential in a number of areas, Geissman said. The possibilities include autoimmune, cardiovascular, neurological and degenerative diseases.
The list of diseases that may respond to stem cell treatments include Alzheimer’s, leukemia, sickle cell anemia, Parkinson’s; solid tumor cancers; and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Celgene Cellular Therapeutics chief executive Dr. Robert Hariri said placenta-derived stem cells may have the ability to effectively treat patients worldwide.
However, Geissman cautioned that the therapeutic is in the “very preliminary” stages.
The results from the patients in the Phase I trial will help Celgene figure out how to bring the therapy into wider use, he said. But it’s impossible to say now how long that will take.
