Research has found that fetal immune cells are quicker and more effective at destroying leukaemia cells than adult cells. The original thoughts were that adult cells would be better at recognising and destroying cancerous cells due to being exposed to so many diseases and viruses that they would be better at lysing abnormal cells.
Normally people who suffer with blood cancers like leukaemia have to have a series of chemotherapy treatments to eradicate the cancerous blood cells but normal blood cells get killed in collateral. Bone marrow transplants are then used to generate more blood cells. The new blood cells introduced from the bone marrow transplant also help finish off any residual cancer cells that still reside.
Donated umbilical cord blood contains fetal stem cells is being preferred in donations over bone marrow transplants as the infant cells have a lower risk of rejection and previously doctors thought that they would be weaker when fighting cancerous cells. Now that research has been presented saying that the fetal blood is not weaker, but could even be stronger at eradicating cancerous cells.
This research was carried out by the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London. The research was done by injecting adult and umbilical cord into mice with B-cell lymphoma, then comparing the improvements of each. They found that fetal cells triggered rapid production of CD4 cells which help the immune system response to tumours and viruses, they also found CD8 cells in the tumours which help shrink and kill tumours.
I found this article to be very interesting particularly about the cells they found in the mice with cord blood. CD4 is on the a-level syllabus as a cell that HIV attacks and we also learn about the immune system. This makes it relevant to our course and helps widen my understanding the immune system.