Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) can differentiate into any type of mature blood cell, making them valuable in the treatment of various blood cancers, such as leukemia and lymphoma. HSC transplants are often the only curative option for these patients but such procedures require stringent matching between patient and donor cells in order to avoid rejection. For unmatched patients this means the difference between life and death. Over the last twenty years, human umbilical cord blood (hCB), which contains a variety of stem cell types including HSCs, has emerged as an option for unmatched patients. But hCB is less concentrated in HSCs than traditional bone marrow, resulting in delayed engraftment and increased transplant complications. A team of researchers led by HSCI Principal Faculty Member Trista North previously identified a method to increase hematopoietic stem cell concentration in hCB by treatment with a signaling molecule named PGE2. Recent work from the same group analyzes the long-term safety of PGE2-treated hCB transplants in non-human primates, showing no significant negative differences between experimental and control studies. The work, which provides confirmation that PGE2-treated hCB transplants are a safe option for unmatched blood cancer patients, has resulted in FDA approval for a phase I clinical trial in humans.

Goessling, W.; Allen, R.; Guan, X.; Jin, P.; Uchida, N.; Dovey, M.; Harris, J.; Metzger, M.; Bonifacino, A.; Stroncek, D.; Stegner, J.; Armant, M.; Schlaeger, T.; Tisdale, J.; Zon, L.; Donahue, R.; North, T. (2011) Prostaglandin E2 Enhances Human Cord Blood Stem Cell Xenotransplants and Shows Long-Term Safety in Preclinical Nonhuman Primate Transplant Models. Cell Stem Cell 445 – 458.