Bone marrow transplant is the most common treatment for scid.This has been successful using either a matched related or unrelated donor, or a half-matched donor, who would be either parent. The half-matched type of transplant is called haploidentical and was performed by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and also Duke University Medical Center which currently does the highest number of these transplants of any center in the world.[1]
The donor marrow for haploidentical transplant should not be having any mature T cells.This is to avoid graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).[1] As a result mature immune system takes longer time to develop in such cases.
The most important aspect to look into for treatment of SCID is Gaurding the patient against infection. It is very important to ward off potential or opportunistic infections.Basic precautions, some of which are listed below , which should be taken into consideration:-
-the patient must be kept away from dirty and crowded environment.
-they should be following a strict diet
-strict hygiene should also be maintained.
There are also some non-curative methods for treating SCID. Reverse isolation involves the use of laminar air flow and mechanical barriers (to avoid physical contact with others) to isolate the patient from any harmful pathogens present in the external environment.[1]
A non-curative treatment for patients with ADA-SCID is enzyme replacement therapy, in which the patient is injected with polyethyleneglycol-coupled adenosine deaminase (PEG-ADA) which metabolizes the toxic substrates of the ADA enzyme and prevents their accumulation. Treatment with PEG-ADA may be used to restore T cell function in the short term, enough to clear any existing infections before proceeding with curative treatment such as a bone marrow transplant.[1]
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