What is Blood Cancer?

Blood Cancer is the term that refers to cancers that affect the blood, bone marrow and the lymphatic system. In most blood cancers, the normal cell production is interrupted by uncontrolled growth of abnormal blood cells. This can reduce the bone marrow’s ability to produce normal levels of blood cells. The abnormal blood cells can prevent blood from fighting off an infection.

Blood cancer can affect anyone

There are three main types of blood cancers:

Leukaemia is the cancer that is found in your blood and bone marrow
Lymphoma is blood cancer that affects the lymphatic system
Myeloma is blood cancer that specifically targets plasma cells in the body

How can it be treated?

Blood Cancer can be treated by a bone marrow transplant which replaces the damaged cells with healthy ones from a donor. Transplants are also used to treat patients with certain immune system and genetic disorders. Now donating bone marrow is a simple blood donation and stem cells to donate for a transplant can be extracted from the blood.

Read more about the donation types here.

How can your cells cure cancer?

stem cells are the building blocks needed to create a new immune system

Stem cells from bone marrow make up our immune system including white blood cells. These cells play an important role in our bodies including fighting off infections and disease.

Stem cell transplants are procedures that restore blood-forming cells in people who have had theirs destroyed. Usually stem cell transplants are used to help a patient recover ability to produce stem cells after treatment of high dose chemotherapy. However, in some types of blood cancers the stem cell transplants works directly against the cancer, as they will attack any cancer cells that remain in your body.

Read more about it on the Australian Government website here.

who receives stem cell transplants and whats involved for the patient?

Stem cell transplants are used to treat people with leukaemia and lymphoma. They can also be used to treat other types of cancer.

The patient will receive a high dose of chemotherapy that wipes out their own immune system so they will have zero white blood cells. The stem cells from the healthy person is then given and they will find a way into the new immune system and fight off the cancer.

stem cells versus bone marrow - whats the difference?

There has always been some confusion between the difference between stem cell donation and bone marrow donation. Here is how to understand the difference:

Bone Marrow: is part of our immune system which helps protect us from infection and disease. It is found inside our bones, mainly the hip bone and breast bone. The bone marrow is where stem cells are made.

Stem Cells: are blood cells are the earliest stage of development. All our blood cells develop from stem cells in the bone marrow. Stem cells stay inside the bone marrow and when they are fully developed they go into the bloodstream. More research found here.

In the past the phrase Bone Marrow Transplant was used however now it is known as a Stem Cell Transplant. This is because stem cells, thanks to new technology and drugs, can safely come out of bone marrow and into the peripheral blood circulation/stream which can be used for a transplant after it has been collected (See our How donation works for more information). Originally the cells could only be taken directly from the bone marrow (usually from the hip bone) and that is why it was called a “Bone Marrow Transplant”.

So a peripheral blood stem cell transplant (PBSCT or stem cell transplant) is when the stem cells have been collected from the blood stream, whereas a bone marrow transplant (BMT) is when the stem cells have been collected directly from the bone marrow. Stem cells can also be collected from an umbilical cord - all these cells are virtually the same but have been collected in different ways. Most people will describe it as either a bone marrow or stem cell transplant.