Duke 6-Month Visit Update: Ive received results from all of his labs done by Duke on December 1 as part of his 6-month visit. Dr Martin notified me by email when he received word that Pierce was now 100% donor cells and Ive passed that information along on this page. This mom is happy to see the reports for herself. According to the lab report, Pierces whole blood DNA is > 98% donor cells with six informative markers. [They wont report 100% as there is a 2% sensitivity.] At his 100 day visit, the result was 98% with four informative markers. His T-cells from the 6-month visit were > 98% donor cells with six informative markers. His 100 day visit showed > 98% with four informative markers. His neutrophils from the 6-month visit were > 98% donor cells with six informative markers. His 100 day visit showed 97% with three informative markers. We have also received the long-awaited immune reconstitution panel. According to Dr. Martin, Helper t-cells are the most critical type of cell to recover after BMT. These cells express CD3 and CD4 proteins on their surface. The CD4 count needs to be > 200 to start to approach normal. At Pierces 100 day visit, his CD4 count was 81 cells/microliter. Unfortunately, we didnt see much improvement at 6 months as it only increased to 102 cells/microliter (we need it to get over 200). Per Dr Martin, As well, we dont want to see more suppressor T-cells than helper T-cells. Suppressor cells are marked by CD8. At Pierces 100 day visit, he had an inverted ratio of CD4 divided by CD8 cells. They like this to be > 1 but Pierces ratio was 0.2 (81/402). At his 6 month visit, this ratio only increased to 0.32 (102/317). Following our 100 day visit, I asked Dr. Martin if there was anything we could do to help support and encourage CD4 growth. A well balanced diet and a good nights sleep is all that can be shown to be associated with a rise in the T-cell counts. So, we wait. And we hope that well see an improvement in the counts with his 9-month visit so he can get the all-clear signal to go back to school once flu season is over.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 23:16:22 +0000
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