Donor telomere length and survival after hematopoietic cell transplantation in patients with severe aplastic anemia
, by DCEG Staff
The 46 human chromosomes are shown in blue, with the telomeres appearing as white pinpoints. (Photo credit: Hesed Padilla-Nash and Thomas Ried)
A new NCI study has found that, among patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) who received a hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) from an unrelated donor, those whose donor white blood cells had longer telomeres had higher survival rates five-years after transplantation than those whose donor white blood cells had shorter telomeres. By contrast, the length of telomeres in a patient’s own white blood cells, as measured before transplantation, was not associated with survival. This study was the first to evaluate donor cell telomere length and outcomes after HCT in SAA. The findings appeared February 10, 2015, in JAMA. Read more in the full NCI News Note.
Reference: Gadalla SM, Wang T, Haagenson M, et al. Association between donor leukocyte telomere length and survival after unrelated allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for severe aplastic anemia. JAMA 2015;313(6):594-602.
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Meet the Investigators
Biography of Shahinaz Gadalla, M.D., Ph.D.
