A study of unrelated cord blood transplants for people with cancers of the blood or lymphatic system

This study was looking at using umbilical cord blood from unrelated donors for people who have leukaemia, lymphoma or myelodysplastic syndrome.

If you have leukaemia , lymphoma or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and your doctors think there is a high risk of your disease coming back after treatment, they may suggest you have a bone marrow or stem cell transplant using cells from a donor.

A donor must have similar bone marrow to you. Some people have a brother or sister who is a match. Other people have a transplant from an unrelated donor. But sometimes, neither type of donor is available. This study was for people in that situation.

Stem cells are cells in the bone marrow that grow into new blood cells. Stem cells can be collected from the umbilical cords of newborn babies. Many people around the world have donated their baby’s umbilical cords and a number of young children have been treated using these cells. Researchers had also started to use this type of treatment for adults.

Before a transplant, you have chemotherapy sometimes with radiotherapy. This is called conditioning. In this study, researchers were using unrelated cord blood to treat adults having 1 of 3 different types of conditioning.

The aims of the study were to see if this treatment is possible (a pilot study) and safe, and whether it helps people who need a transplant but don’t have a suitable adult donor.