How is bone marrow transplantation used to treat blood disorders?

Bone marrow transplantation is a form of stem cell therapy used to treat various blood disorders, including leukemia, lymphoma, aplastic anemia, and sickle cell anemia. The procedure relies on hematopoietic stem cells, which are capable of generating all blood and immune system cells.12

There are two primary approaches:

• Autologous transplant: The patient’s own stem cells are harvested and stored before they undergo high-dose chemotherapy or radiation therapy. After treatment destroys the diseased marrow, the stored cells are reinfused to repopulate the blood and immune system.12
• Allogeneic transplant: If a patient's own marrow is diseased, stem cells are obtained from a donor with a matching tissue type. This process uses human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching to minimize the risk of graft-versus-host disease, a condition where donor immune cells attack the recipient's tissues.12

In both cases, the transplanted stem cells colonize the marrow, allowing the body to regenerate healthy blood-forming tissues.12