Stem Cell Research and Therapy

Cord Blood - Source Of Hematopoietic Stem Cells

- Lifecell Conference at Chennai Jan-2006 by Dr. Naynesh Kamani

History Of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplants:

1960 – Transplants of bone marrow to recipients from related donors
1980 – Transplants of bone marrow to recipients from unrelated donors
1980 – Hematopoietic stem cells derived from peripheral blood.
1988 – Hematopoietic stem cells from cord blood of related donors
1990 – Hematopoietic stem cells from cord blood of unrelated donors

Advantages of using Human Cord Blood for Hematopoietic Stem Cells:

Human cord blood has numerous advantages over other stem cell sources which are listed below:

• Quantity of hematopoietic stem cells are high in cord blood.
• Immune rejection of hematopoietic stem cells collected from cord blood does not occur in the recipient. This is associated with fewer complication related to the transplant.
• Cord blood donation is a painless procedure and does not cause hinder the birth process in any way.

Technique of Collection.

About 250 ml of cord blood is collected with anticoagulant and stored in liquid nitrogen. 

The total nucleated cell count collected from each cord blood donation is 0.5 million to 5 billion cells. 

Problems associated with the use of Cord Blood stem cells:

• Wastage of a majority of the collected cord blood samples.
• The infrastructural need for storage of cord blood is very high.
• The potential of cord blood stem cells in the treatment of human diseases is not yet fully understood.
• Molecular and immunological analysis of cord blood is difficult.
• There is an increased risk of transmitting genetic disorders to the recipient.
• The amount of cord blood collected from the donor is highly variable and is largely dependent on the skill of the operating room personnel.
• Re-collection of the cord blood sample from the same donor is not possible.
• Risk of maternal blood contamination.