February 15, 2023, 10:57 am | Read time: 3 minutes
Each year, around 700 children and adolescents in Germany are diagnosed with leukemia. In certain cases, only a stem cell transplant can help. However, finding a donor can be difficult.
The news is often a shock for families, and the search for stem cell donors is a race against time: About 700 children and adolescents are diagnosed with leukemia in Germany each year, according to the Tübingen-based organization DKMS, which registers potential stem cell donors. Leukemia is the most common type of cancer in children. For some of those affected, a stem cell transplant is the last hope. Finding a suitable donor is often challenging. If successful, the children and adolescents have a good chance of recovery. It is important for many healthy people to register as donors. DKMS urgently calls for this on World Childhood Cancer Day on February 15.
Overview
Types of Leukemia
Leukemia can occur in various forms. According to DKMS, the main groups include:
- Leukemias: Types of leukemia that originate from white blood cells. These cells, which can no longer perform their function of fighting infection, multiply rapidly.
- Lymphomas: Types of cancer that affect the lymphatic system (including lymph nodes, spleen, bone marrow), which plays a major role in the body’s immune system.
- Myelomas: In multiple myeloma, blood plasma cells multiply excessively, becoming dysfunctional and unable to perform their role in immune defense.
Also of interest: What symptoms indicate lymphoma?
Significant Advances in Treatment
“In recent decades, there have been significant advances in the treatment of most malignant diseases that occur in children and adolescents,” said Peter Bader, head of the stem cell transplantation department at the University Hospital Frankfurt/Main’s pediatric and adolescent medicine clinic.
Especially with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common malignant disease in this age group, up to 90 percent of patients can now be cured. However, “for some of them, a stem cell transplant is necessary for a complete cure.”
Also of interest: Cancer cases in people under 50 are steadily increasing worldwide–possible reasons
Storing or Donating Umbilical Cord Blood: Which Is More Sensible?
Signs That May Indicate Blood Cancer
Donor Tissue Characteristics Must Match
If no suitable donor is found within the family, patients rely on unrelated donors. This is where the challenge lies: The donor’s tissue characteristics must match those of the patient as closely as possible to avoid complications during transplantation, according to DKMS. There are more than 35,000 variants of these characteristics, which occur in millions of different combinations. Therefore, it is important to have a large pool to search for a suitable donor.
No Surgery Needed for Stem Cell Donation in 90 Percent of Cases
At DKMS, any healthy person up to the age of 55 can register as a potential stem cell donor. “The requirements for donating to a child or an adult are the same,” said Bader.
According to DKMS, only 10 percent of all stem cell donations involve bone marrow extractions, which require surgery for the donor. In 90 percent of cases, stem cells are collected through an outpatient procedure, where the necessary amount of stem cells is filtered from the blood.
With material from dpa