Umbilical cord blood stem cells are capable only of turning into blood cells that may be able to grow into other kinds of cells as well. The transplant of umbilical cord blood stem cells may also help lung and heart disorders.
A study showed that human UCB (Umbilical Cord Blood) stem cells have been successfully isolated, cultivated and been shown to differentiate into various cell types, such as osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes, stromal cells, skeletal cells, endothelial cells and neural cells and even lung-specific cells in vitro. As a result, umbilical cord blood stem cells have a protective effect against hyperoxia-induced lung injury, likely due to anti-inflammatory effects. The researchers noted that their findings are expected to have important therapeutic potential for the currently untreatable hyperoxic neonatal lung disease, or bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), in premature human infants.
In addition, a research team in Germany evaluated the feasibility and efficacy of autologous (self-donated) umbilical cord blood stem cell transplantation on right ventricular (RV) function in a large animal model of chronic RV overload. The result showed that the transplant enhanced diastolic properties, likely through blood vessel growth (angiogenesis). The authors noted that umbilical cord blood stem cells have already been shown to be therapeutic agents in patients suffering from major hematological disorders.
These two studies add to the plethora of potential uses for umbilical cord blood stem cells, ranging from possible treatments for neurological disorders, such as stroke and Alzheimer’s disease to diabetes, and now the repair of damaged heart and lungs.
Scientists are discovering more and more about the therapeutic value of umbilical cord blood stem cells, which contain hematopoietic progenitor cells (hpcs). Cord-blood stem cells have been used primarily, and most successfully, to “regrow” blood in children who have undergone chemotherapy for leukemia and lymphoma, but cord-blood transplants have also been used to treat other blood and genetic diseases in children.
Umbilical cord blood stem cells are now a viable and, for infants and children, often preferable alternative to transplants of bone marrow, which also contains hpcs. The human leukocyte antigen (hla) match between donor and recipient need not be as exact, and there are fewer cases of rejection.
Stored cord blood is more readily available than bone marrow, which in most cases must be extracted in a surgical procedure at the time of transplant. Unlike bone-marrow donation, the collection of cord blood is painless: it can be collected in utero, during a Caesarean section or after a vaginal birth, with minimal risk. In the United States, Europe, and Japan, more cord blood than bone marrow is used for childhood transplants.
The banks of umbilical cord blood stem cells, which are just over a decade old in Canada, have set up business during a period of strong federal support for the commercialization of research. The Toronto Cord Blood Program, a public bank established at Mount Sinai Hospital in 1996, morphed into Mississauga-based Insception Biosciences, a private banking and research company, in 2004, a move facilitated by the hefty investment of venture capital.
Canadian commercial banks of umbilical cord blood stem cells market themselves aggressively to expectant parents. They market themselves to parents not only on the basis of current treatment realities, but on the notion that umbilical cord blood stem cells may soon offer biological insurance against a whole host of diseases.
