Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation is a form of stem cell transplant that can cure blood cancers such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
‘Baking soda treatment may help prevent leukemia relapse after stem cell transplants.’
However, complete response rates can be as low as 17% after 100 days, mainly because leukemia will frequently return.
There is a pressing need for methods that can boost stem cell transplants' anticancer effects, but researchers haven't fully understood why donated T cells often fail to finish off tumors.
By analyzing mouse models of leukemia and T cells from patients before and after transplantation, Franziska Uhl and colleagues revealed that leukemia cells suppressed the metabolic activities and the spread of donated T cells by secreting lactic acid. The lactic acid acidified the cellular environment and interfered with glucose metabolism.
A clinical formulation named bicaNorm reversed T cells' suppressive effects in 10 transplant recipients with relapsed AML.
Trials with larger groups of patients to better determine the long-term benefits of sodium bicarbonate for recipients of stem cell transplants are needed.
Source: Medindia
