Unrelated umbilical cord-blood stem cell transplantation: a report from Kanagawa Cord Blood Bank, Japan

Umbilical cord-blood (CB) has been used as a source of hematopoietic stem cells in pediatric patients with sibling donors. As a result of the success with CB transplantation from sibling donors, pilot programs for the banking of unrelated donor CB were initiated in the organization of Kanagawa Cord Blood Bank, Japan in 1995. As of December 1997, unrelated donor CB was used to reconstitute hematopoiesis in seven patients aged 0.7-12.8 years, weighing 7-36 kg with high-risk leukemia (n = 5), myelodysplastic syndrome (n = 1), and immunodeficiency syndrome (n = 1). Engraftment of CB was achieved in six patients. The absolute neutrophil count reached 500/microliter in a median of 27 days; a platelet count of 20,000/microliter was reached by a median of 64 days in three patients who could be evaluated. Five patients are currently surviving. Grade I GVHD developed in three patients and grade III in one patient; no GVHD developed in three patients. Although only a small number of patients have been studied and the period of observation is too short to determine long-term survival, HLA-matched or HLA-mismatched CB from unrelated donors can provide an alternative source of hematopoietic reconstitution for clinical transplantation.