According to a Children's Hospital of Wisconsin press release researchers there have shown success using patients' bone marrow to treat inhibitors.
The findings were published in the 1 October 2008 issue of Blood Journal.
From the press release:
"...investigators describe how a gene-modified bone marrow transplant can be used to initiate clotting in hemophilia. This type of approach may work in the 30 to 35 percent of hemophilia patients that have developed inhibitory antibodies against the missing clotting protein.
The bone marrow is removed from the patient and stem cells are treated with Factor VIII, a clotting factor, which is placed in the platelets. The marrow is given back to the patient, who then retains the essential clotting mechanisms to stop bleeding that otherwise would lead to complications."
1 comment:
That's fantastic news. It sounds like there is a lot of interesting things happening with gene-therapy (if a little scary) at the moment. Anything they can do to help the inhibitor problem is good.
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