A possible downside of purging is that some normal stem cells can be lost during this process. While this might work for some patients, there haven't been enough studies yet to know if this is really a benefit. To help prevent any remaining cancer cells from being transplanted along with stem cells, some centers treat the stem cells before they’re given back to the patient. Getting rid of cancer cells in stem cells saved for autologous transplants Risks of autologous stem cell transplantĪn autologous transplant graft might still fail, which means the transplanted stem cells don’t go into the bone marrow and make blood cells like they should.Īlso, autologous transplants can’t produce the “graft-versus-cancer” effect, in which the donor immune cells from the transplant help kill any cancer cells that remain.Īnother possible disadvantage of an autologous transplant is that cancer cells might be collected along with the stem cells and then later be put back into your body. You also don’t have to worry about immune cells from the transplant attacking healthy cells in your body (known as graft-versus-host disease), which is a concern with allogeneic transplants. When you get your own stem cells back, you don’t have to worry about them (called the engrafted cells or the “graft”) being rejected by your body. Benefits of autologous stem cell transplantĪn advantage of an autologous stem cell transplant is that you’re getting your own cells back. Doctors can use autologous transplants for other diseases, too, like systemic sclerosis, multiple sclerosis (MS), Crohn's disease, and systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus). It’s sometimes used for other cancers, like testicular cancer and neuroblastoma, and certain cancers in children. This kind of transplant is mainly used to treat certain leukemias, lymphomas, and multiple myeloma. (You can learn more about this process at What’s It Like to Donate Stem Cells?) After you get high doses of chemo and/or radiation as your myeloablative therapy, the stem cells are thawed and given back to you. Your stem cells are removed from either your bone marrow or your blood, and then frozen. In this type of transplant, the first step is to remove or harvest your own stem cells. The stem cells in allogeneic transplants are from a person other than the patient, either a matched related or unrelated donor. The stem cells in autologous transplants come from the same person who will get the transplant, so the patient is their own donor. They are named based on who donates the stem cells. The goal is that over time, the transplanted cells will settle in the bone marrow, where they will begin to grow and make healthy new blood cells. The replacement stem cells are given into a vein, much like a blood transfusion. Soon after treatment, blood stem cells are given (transplanted) to replace those that were destroyed. This is called myeloablation or myeloablative therapy. This treatment also kills the stem cells in the bone marrow.

In a typical stem cell transplant for cancer, a person first gets very high doses of chemo, sometimes along with radiation therapy, to try to kill all the cancer cells.

Peripheral blood stem cell transplant (PBSCT)Īll of these can also be called hematopoietic stem cell transplants.

Depending on where the stem cells come from, the transplant procedure may go by different names: Stem cell transplants are used to put blood stem cells back into the body after the bone marrow has been destroyed by disease, chemotherapy (chemo), or radiation.

Autologous stem cell transplant cure