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Most people are familiar with the transplantation of solid organs like hearts, kidneys, and livers as a means of saving lives. A lesser known procedure, but one that often has dramatic results, is the transplanting of a particular type of blood cell, known as a stem cell. Stem cells are the progenitors of all mature blood cells. They reside primarily in the bone marrow, although a few live in the spleen and lymph nodes. It is there they continually produce new blood cells to replace those that have reached the end of their life cycle. Because of this ability, when these cells are transplanted, after chemotherapy or radiation therapy, they replace damaged or malignant cells.
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The magazine of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey