Case Study: Cord Blood Transplant Saved Woman From Rare Cancer

In 2015, Alexes Harris, a fit 41-year-old with no history of asthma, found herself struggling during spin classes. Breathless and fatigued during sprints, she sensed something was amiss. Her doctor initially suspected adult-onset asthma but ordered a routine blood panel, revealing a low white blood count. What followed were feelings of fatigue, dizziness, and unexplained bruises.

Frustrated by vague advice to "wait and see," Harris sought a second opinion at the UW Medicine-Fred Hutch system. A hematologist recommended a bone marrow biopsy, leading to a shocking diagnosis in May 2016 – myelodysplastic syndromes, a rare blood cancer. Without treatment, she was given 18 to 24 months to live.

Facing aggressive chemotherapy at UW Medical Center-Montlake, Harris initially achieved remission. However, when the cancer returned, her medical team explored a bone marrow transplant. Despite a database search yielding two potential matches, both declined further testing. No viable matches, not even with her twin brother, were found. Strikingly, Harris's own bone marrow, registered years earlier on the "Be the Match" registry while a student at UW, emerged as a possible match.

For Harris, of Black and Filipino descent, and her white mother, finding a bone marrow match was a challenge due to underrepresentation on the registry for BIPOC populations. HLA-typing, used to match patients and donors, relies on shared racial or ethnic backgrounds, making it difficult for diverse individuals to find matches.

A novel approach was suggested by Dr. Filippo Milano, a clinician on her team – a transplant using stem cells from umbilical cord blood. Running a trial at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, the cord blood transplant results showed promise. In September 2016, Harris received a cord-blood transfusion at UW Medical Center, which proved successful three weeks later. A biopsy in December showed no sign of cancer.

Harris's experience shed light on the challenges faced by BIPOC individuals in finding bone marrow matches. Black patients currently have only a 29% chance of finding a perfect match, compared to 79% for white European patients, according to a Bloodworks Northwest researcher.

Encouragingly, UW Medical Center-Montlake recently reinstated its cord-blood donation program in partnership with Bloodworks Northwest. Dr. Sarah Prager of the OB-GYN team hopes more mothers will donate cord blood, which can be used to treat various conditions, including blood disorders and leukemia.

Cord blood, collected from the umbilical cord of newborns, undergoes testing and cryogenic storage, preserving stem cells with pluripotent properties. These undifferentiated cells can be used in bone marrow transplants even if the baby's blood type doesn't match the recipient's.

Harris, now prioritizing her family and advocating for cord-blood donation, encourages more mothers, especially from BIPOC communities, to consider this life-saving act. Her own journey has transformed her priorities, focusing on gratitude, family, and giving back. Seven years after her diagnosis, she's back to an active lifestyle, participating in indoor cycling classes, and gearing up for the Big Climb in March 2024 to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

As she reflects on her journey, Harris expresses her gratitude: "Things are good. And I'm so thankful." Her story not only highlights the life-saving potential of cord-blood donation but also underscores the importance of diversity in bone marrow registries.

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Source: https://newsroom.uw.edu/blog/cord-blood-transplant-saved-woman-from-rare-cancer?fbclid=IwAR07h8X7iSf7wxAXp5nN2hjfrFsNBTJjrYztNalaAkVxSxQVGq_Dlj-4jcE