Health is wealth
Umbilical cord blood stem-cell therapy
September 7th 2011 06:28
Blood that remains in the human umbilical cord and placenta after birth supplies doctors with a rich source of hematopoietic progenitor cells (stem cells), the precursors of all other blood cells. Bone marrow from donors has traditionally been used as a source of stem cells for restoration of diseased bone marrow, but researchers have demonstrated that cord blood provides an excellent alternative source. Thus, cord blood is utilized for the treatment of many diseases--such as leukemia, sickle cell anemia and Hodgkin's disease--that are typically remedied by bone marrow transplants. There appear to be several advantages to using stem cells from umbilical cord blood, including rapid availability, potential to expand the ethnic diversity of the donor pool (minorities are vastly underrepresented in bone marrow donor pools), no donor risk, less likelihood of viral contamination and less risk of graft-versus-host disorder (GVHD). GVHD is a significant consideration because stem cells from a donor's bone marrow often recognize the host as foreign, resulting in complications after transplantation. Cord blood stem cells are potentially less immunologically active and may pose less risk of GVHD than stem cells from bone marrow. The future holds great promise for the use of umbilical cord blood stem cells. In the transplantation discipline, collection of data from clinical trials will continue to improve knowledge, thereby helping to increase survival rates.
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