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Cord Blood: A Massive Waste of a Life-Saving Resource, a Perspective on Its Current and Potential Uses

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Regenerative Medicine Using Pregnancy-Specific Biological Substances

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Abstract

Although allogeneic stem cell transplantation can cure patients with hematologic malignancies and nonmalignant disorders, limiting factors such as lack of suitable donors and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) toxicity have led to the exploration of umbilical cord blood (UCB) as an alternative source of hematopoietic stem cells. The unique immunologic properties of UCB likely contribute to a decreased risk of GVHD. Thus, UCB represents a highly convenient hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) source that may significantly expand the HSC donor pool. Cord blood stem cells appear to confer significant advantages over adult stem cells, including ease of procurement, less of a requirement for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching, and fever side effects after use in transplant. Because of these characteristics, UCB is now the fastest growing source of stem cells for hematopoietic cell transplantation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Children’s Hospital, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwane

    Tang-Her Jaing

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  1. Tang-Her Jaing
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  2. Robert Chow
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Correspondence to Tang-Her Jaing .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Advanced Medical Research Inst., B.P.Poddar Hospital, Vidyasagar Hospital, Kolkata, India

    Niranjan Bhattacharya

  2. Dept. Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Boston University Medical Centre, E. Concord Street 85, Boston, 02118, Massachusetts, USA

    Phillip Stubblefield

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Jaing, TH., Chow, R. (2011). Cord Blood: A Massive Waste of a Life-Saving Resource, a Perspective on Its Current and Potential Uses. In: Bhattacharya, N., Stubblefield, P. (eds) Regenerative Medicine Using Pregnancy-Specific Biological Substances. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-718-9_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-718-9_7

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-84882-718-9

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