Some Texas researchers believe they have found a safer method using stem cells to treat some cancers, instead of using chemotherapy.

Doctors have discovered that it is not the high-dose chemotherapy that ultimately kills the cancer, but rather the donor stem cells that become the patient's new immune system.

Researchers at the University of Texas' M.D. Anderson Cancer Center believe they have found a strategy called mini stem cell transplants that they say are safer and more effective, and could lead to higher survival rates.

The cancer center's Dr. Issa Khouri said the mini transplant treatments use lower doses of chemotherapy, resulting in fewer side effects and better survival rates.

"With lymphoma patients -- where we used to have 40 to 50 percent mortality -- we now have more than 80 percent of those patients alive and in remission with this strategy. So this has been a major breakthrough," Khouri said.

The treatment is an option for patients who have undergone traditional therapy, but have had a recurrence.

The stem cells must be collected from donors who are tissue-compatible. The low-dose chemotherapy reduces the patient's immune system to accept the donated stem cells with fewer complications.

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