Cord Blood Uses

Stem cells have a peculiar ability to divide and differentiate into 220 different types of cells found in the human body. Nowadays, they are used ad nauseam in cell-based therapies, where healthy cells, which are derived from the stem cells, replace the damaged cells.

For many years now, bone marrow has been considered to be the fundamental source of stem cells. Until recently, bone marrow transplant therapy was the most common method used to treat diseases. However, there are many problems associated with bone marrow transplant therapy including difficulty in finding a perfect donor match, risk of viral infection and other transplant side effects and graft vs. host disease GVHD (transplant rejection). This is why, more and more, doctors are turning to cord blood stem cells to help treat serious illnesses. Find out more about the basics of transplants and about bone marrow vs. cord blood.

Why Cord Blood Stem Cells?

Cord blood stem cells offer several advantages over bone marrow stem cells and embryonic stem cells, including:

• Collection of cord blood stem cells poses no serious risks to either the baby or the mother because it is collected after birth.
• Unlike embryonic stem cells, umbilical cord blood is a non-controversial source of stem cells.
• With cord blood stem cells, the risk of viral infection is less.
• There is a significantly reduced risk of graft vs. host reaction.
• Cord blood stem cells not only occur in higher concentration than bone marrow stem cells, but they also have a higher capacity to replicate since they are harvested from the umbilical cord blood when they are very young, and, due to preservation, they do not age, hence their vitality is preserved.

While cord blood stem cell transplant therapy has many advantages, its use is somewhat limited because of the difficulty in finding a perfect match. Nevertheless, there are about 75 diseases that can be treated through the use of cord blood stem cells. These diseases can be segregated into congenital (present at birth) diseases and acquired diseases.

Cord Blood Stem Cell Types and Limitations

For the treatment of congenital diseases, the patient’s own cord blood cannot be used because the same disease also affects the stem cells located there. In such cases, cord blood stem cells from a sibling or an unrelated donor are used. A cord blood stem cell transplant can be one of two types:

1. Autologous transplantation, where the patient’s own cord blood stem cells are used in treatment.
2. Allogeneic transplantation, where cord blood stem cells coming from a sibling or an unrelated donor are used.

Typically, the selection of the transplantation therapy depends upon several factors that differ from patient to patient.

Disease Treated

Here is a list of diseases treated using cord blood stem cells.

Cancers	Autologous Transplantation	Allogeneic Transplantation
Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia	Yes	Yes
Acute Myelogenous Leukemia	Yes	Yes
Chronic Leukemias	Yes	Yes
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia	Yes	Yes
Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia	Yes	Yes
Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia	Yes	Yes
Hodgkin’s Disease	Yes	Yes
Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia	Yes	Yes
Multiple Myeloma	Yes	Yes
Neuroblastoma	Yes	Yes
Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma	Yes	Yes
Plasma Cell Leukemia	Yes	Yes
Refractory Anemia	Yes	Yes
Refractory Anemia with Excess Blasts	Yes	Yes
Refractory Anemia with Excess Blasts in Transformation	Yes	Yes
Refractory Anemia with Ringed Sideroblasts	Yes	Yes
Blood Disorders
Acute Myelofibrosis	Yes	Yes
Agnogenic Myeloid Metaplasia	Yes	Yes
Beta Thalassemia Major	No	Yes
Blackfan-Diamond Anemia	No	Yes
Fanconi Anemia	No	Yes
Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria	Yes	Yes
Pure Red Cell Aplasia	No	Yes
Severe Aplastic Anemia	Yes	Yes
Sickle Cell Anemia	No	Yes
Immunodeficiencies
Absence of T & B Cells	No	Yes
Absence of T Cells	No	Yes
Ataxia-Telangiectasia	No	Yes
Bare Lymphocyte Syndrome	No	Yes
Chediak-Higashi Syndrome	No	Yes
Chronic Granulomatous Disease	No	Yes
Common Variable Immunodeficiency	No	Yes
DiGeorge Syndrome	No	Yes
Kostmann Syndrome	No	Yes
Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency	No	Yes
Neutrophil Actin Deficiency	No	Yes
Omenn Syndrome	No	Yes
Reticular Dysgenesis	No	Yes
Severe Combined Immunodeficiency with Adenosine Deaminase Deficiency	No	Yes
Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome	No	Yes
X-Linked Lymphoproliferative Disorder	No	Yes
Inherited Disorders
Amegakaryocytosis / Congenital Thrombocytopenia	No	Yes
Glanzmann Thrombasthenia	No	Yes

In addition to this diseases and disorders, there are also a number of conditions that scientists are investigating in clinical trials to deem just how effective cord blood stem cells are. While in almost every case, stem cells have shown to positively affect the condition in some way, the use of stem cells is currently not a standard treatment method for these diseases and disorders.

Disease	Autologous Transplantation	Allogenic Transplantation
Adrenoleukodystrophy	No	Yes
Breast Cancer	Yes	Yes
Cartilage-Hair Hypoplasia	No	Yes
Ewing Sarcoma	Yes	Yes
Familial Erythrophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis	No	Yes
Hemophagocytosis	No	Yes
Gaucher’s Disease	No	Yes
Hunter’s Syndrome	No	Yes
Hurler’s Syndrome	No	Yes
Krabbe Disease	No	Yes
Langerhans’ Cell Histiocytosis	No	Yes
Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome	No	Yes
Maroteaux-Lamy Syndrome	No	Yes
Metachromatic Leukodystrophy	No	Yes
Morquio Syndrome	No	Yes
Mucolipidosis II	No	Yes
Mucopolysaccharidoses	No	Yes
Multiple Sclerosis	Yes	Yes
Nomann-Pick Disease	No	Yes
Osteopetrosis	No	Yes
Renal Cell Carcinoma	Yes	Yes
Sanfilippo Syndrome	No	Yes
Scheie Syndrome	No	Yes
Sly Syndrome, Beta-Glucuronidase Deficiency	No	Yes
Tay Sachs Disease	No	Yes
Wolman Disease	No	Yes

Scientists are still examining cord blood stem cells and perfecting how to use these stem cells in treatment. It is hoped and expected that, in the future, cord blood stem cells will be used to treat many other disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, muscular dystrophy, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury and stroke.