Spanish scientists, T. Martîn-Donaire et al., from the Unversidad Autónoma de Madrid published in the August issue of Nature their study results on immune reconstitution of cancer patients receiving cord blood transplants (CBT) and) mobilized hematopoietic stem cells (mHSCs) from third party donors (TPDs). The clinical outcome consisted of early recovery in circulating granulocytes, high rates of cord blood engraftment concomitant with full chimerism. The investigators reported that cumulative recovery of natural killer and B cells were at or above the median values of normal controls (6-9 mons. post-infusion). The researchers also found that recovery of T cells was much slower, particularly, naive cells lagging behind memory and effector T cells. However, by the third month after CBT, recovery of T cells were comparable to normal controls and in some cases higher than before transplantation. The authors concluded that their "clinical observations of substantial GVT (graft versus tumor) effect together with low incidence of serious GVHD and slow development of protective immunity suggest that thymic function contributes substantially to the recovery of T-cell population in adults receiving dual CB/TPD-mHSC transplant."