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Can blood transfer can somehow help a case of scleroderma?
I know it's not the way to cure it, but I was just wondering if this can slow down the body destruction made by the faulty lymphocytes.
Please answer in plain English, but still backed up by reliable references.
I'm not aware of any work done in this area. A whole blood transfusion is not going replace circulating defective lymphocytes.
On the other hand Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation has some promise in patients with deteriorating lung function.
Autologous HSCT could “reset” the host immune system to a point in time when the antigenic triggers of autoimmunity were not present (41). Illustrative of this point, is the fact that pre-HSCT immunity wanes and often disappears after autologous HSCT. In recipients of TBI conditioning and autologous HSCT, the T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire diversity was shown to normalize after lymphoablation and autologous transplant (42).
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But do the benefits of autologous HSCT outweigh the risks? Likely not in autoimmune diseases with low associated mortality, but for scleroderma lung disease the benefits appear compelling. Replicated in multiple phase II reports from Europe and the US, dramatic and durable improvements in skin fibrosis and quality of life measures have been observed along with stabilization of PFTs. Three prospective, randomized clinical trials in patients with SSc and internal organ involvement have compared autologous HSCT treatment to high-dose IV pulse CYC given for up to 12 months. The SCOT trial is still following all subjects through the 54th month primary endpoint, but as detailed above the ASSIST and ASTIS randomized trials have been completed and both report statistically significant clinical benefits after stem cell transplantation.
