This article is a sidebar to "Improving the odds," published in the University of Minnesota Cancer Center 2007 Annual Report.

In recent years, clinical trials pioneered at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center identified new and better ways to use umbilical cord blood to treat both children and adults with hematological malignancies who required stem cell transplantation.

The clinical trails showed that patients who received a transplant consisting of stem cells from two cord blood units from different, partially matched donors experienced a better recovery of the blood and marrow relative to those treated with a conventional single cord blood transplant. Having previously shown that a greater number of stem cells are associated with more rapid recovery, this result was a hoped for, expected outcome. But, two unanticipated outcomes also occurred: the survival rate nearly tripled in adults, and the risk of relapse significantly decreased in comparison to those transplanted with a single cord blood unit.

Although the number of stem cells in a single cord blood unit is sufficient to treat a small child, it is typically insufficient to treat an adult. Because many more adults suffer from hematological malignancies than children, new strategies were needed. Using stem cells from more than one cord blood unit was one approach to meeting the transplantation therapy needs of these adult patients.

"Simply by taking two units and infusing them at the same time, the world saw cord blood transplant for the first time as a treatment for adults," says John E. Wagner, M.D., director of the University of Minnesota's division of pediatric hematology, oncology and blood and marrow transplantation. "Particularly for patients over age 45, the use of the ‘double' cord blood transplant approach in combination with a unique reduced intensity conditioning has given extraordinary results.

"In Europe, this approach is now referred to as the ‘Minneapolis Regimen' and is being replicated there with similar success," Wagner says.