Potato starch supplements considered for bone marrow transplants

24 Oct 2023 --- Researchers from the University of Michigan Health Rogel Cancer Center are testing the potential of potato starch supplements to prevent a dangerous complication in stem cell transplant patients using a donor’s blood or bone marrow.

Patients get a new immune system when they receive a stem cell transplant. The donor’s immune system attacks cells that don’t belong in the body, such as cancer cells. The graft of donor cells then begins to see the patient’s body as foreign and attacks the organs and tissues, causing Graft versus Host Disease (GVHD).

GVHD is a major limitation to the lifesaving capability of blood or marrow stem cell transplants, says Dr. Mary Riwes, medical director, inpatient adult stem cell transplant unit of the Medical Directors Partnering to Lead Along with Nurse Managers program.

 “It is exciting to think of the prospect of potentially finding a simple, low-cost, and safe approach to mitigating this dangerous complication for patients who need a stem cell transplant, but researching this approach in more patients is still needed to confirm.”

Changed bacterial direction
During a test with ten patients, researchers found that a food supplement made from potato starch changed the byproducts of intestinal bacteria in a way that could potentially prevent GVHD from happening.    

Investigators are enrolling patients for a second clinical trial phase to establish whether taking potato starch will reduce GVHD after a stem cell transplant. Sixty patients undergoing a blood or bone marrow stem cell transplant who are ten years or older will be randomized to take potato starch or placebo starch and all the usual medications for preventing GVHD.Potato starch is being considered as an alternative method to recover from stem cell transplants and avoid GVHD.

Phase II will help researchers learn whether or not taking potato starch is an effective intervention for preventing GVHD, with 80% of the patients in the experiment taking potato starch and 20% taking placebo starch. 

Cutting back on potent medicine
Usually, GVHD is treated with strong medicine that suppresses the immune system. This causes patients to get life-threatening infections. 

While bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants from a donor are lifesaving for many patients with various serious illnesses, the development of GVHD can cause injury or even death and the treatments available for GVHD are risky.  

Previous research showed that the bacteria that usually live in the intestines and their products can affect whether GVHD is contracted after a transplant. 

GVHD develops in up to half the patients receiving stem cell transplants and can affect many body parts. About 9,000 transplants are performed annually in the US.

Meanwhile, Prolacta Bioscience has made a synbiotic breakthrough using sugars from human milk oligosaccharides, a bacterial strain found in nursing infants, to precision heal the adult gut microbiome.

By Inga de Jong

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