What a Bone Marrow Transplant Really Entails
When I was young, one of my best friends grew very ill and had to receive a bone marrow transplant. I used to think that the doctors just used a long syringe and simply sucked up the marrow and replaced it with any new marrow available. I also believed that Santa was real until an embarrassingly old age, so I wouldn't really take my younger self's ideas too seriously (lol). When in reality, a bone marrow transplant is actually a lot more complicated than that and requires a little more planning than simply getting your old marrow sucked into a comically large syringe and replaced with a strangers new marrow. In more professional and scientific terms, a bone marrow transplant involves taking used/destroyed stem cells found in one's bones, filtering them, and either placing them back into the patient (autologous) or if one's bone marrow has been destroyed by cancer treatments to the point of no return, the patient will recieve the stem cells from an outside donor (allogenic). The goal of this transplant is to transplant healthy bone marrow cells into someone who is suffering from an immunological illness which could include, but is certainly not limited to, certain cancers such as leukemia or lymphoma.
When it comes to the optimal match for a bone marrow donation, HLA is the key to success. HLA or Human Leukocyte Antigen are protein markers found on almost all cells in your body. HLA is what your body uses to determine whether or not cells in your body belong there or not. HLA matching is used to determine matches for bone marrow transplants, because, unlike younger me, you cannot have just about anybody's bone marrow in your body. A minimum of 6 HLA matches are necessary to be considered a match for a transplant. We can find the closest match to us most of the time through family, you receive half of your HLA markers from your mother and half from your father - this gives you and your siblings a 25% chance of matching.
Some ethnic groups have more complex tissue and therefore have a harder time to match. The chance to find a match can range from 29 to 79 percent, which is quite the gap. White individuals lead with 79% chance of matching, while African Americans have a mere 29% chance to match. If one cannot find a match, then doctors can find a partially matched donation which could or could not work in your body. When one is interested in a bone marrow transplant as treatment for their cancer, then they will have a transplant team who will work to the end of the Earth to find you at least a partial match.
Cord blood comes from one's umbilical cord and has fewer stem cells than regular adult bone marrow transplants. However, in recent years, scientists have looked into this alternative treatment and seen that it does have its perks. Stem cells in cord blood have the ability to grow more blood cells than can those collected in bone marrow transplants. Moreover, cord blood cells have not been exposed to disease or cancer treatment and therefore may provide the most untouched cells available. Cord blood treatments are for those who are unable to produce any healthy blood cells and need immunologically untouched cells.