Cord blood transplantation affects progression of Krabbe disease

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers conducted a study of the effects of cord blood transplantation on newborns and infants with Krabbe disease, a neurodegenerative disorder. Eleven newborns who had been diagnosed prenatally or at birth because of a family history of Krabbe disease and 14 older infants who were symptomatic all received umbilical cord blood transplantation from unrelated donors who were not perfect matches. All the newborns showed normal neurological development after the transplantation, except for their motor skills. The older infants had minimal neurologic improvement, and their survival rate was no better than that of untreated children with Krabbe disease. The research was published in the May 19, 2005, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.