Increasing Yield of Cord Blood-Derived Stem Cells

Filed in archive Stem Cells on October 19, 2005

In February this year, researchers from the University of Toronto were able to identify "jelly-like connective tissue surrounding the blood vessels of the human umbilical cord, the so-called "Wharton's Jelly", which is rich in stem cells that may be used to treat leukemia and other blood-cancers, presenting an alternative to bone marrow transplantation. However, not a lot of such mesenchymal cells are found in cord blood. In fact, the amount may not even be enough for use to treat an adult.

In the October issue of Experimental Hematology, researchers from the same university developed a method to identify and remove non-stem cells -differentiated cells, or "lineage-positive" cells- to create a selective environment for stem cells. The researchers also designed a "bioreactor" in which the stem cells grow in a closed and controlled environment. These may pave the production of clinically relevant amounts enough for cell-based therapies. The paper's lead author Peter Zandstra says:

"The hope is that very soon, if the results are the same with the bioreactor as they were with our experiments to date, we will move to clinical trials."

Read more at ScienceDaily.

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Response from: Crouton (10/20/05 5:17am)

There are so many breakthroughs and promising ideas -- but it seems so few of them work out, or work out quickly. Hopefully, these doctors will be able to get enough funding and support to make their mind their only limitation.

Thank you for the story.

Response from: ruth (10/20/05 8:23am)

I totally agree with you, Crouton. One of the main obstacles in translating lab results to marketable technologies is the lack of funding, especially for start-up companies.

Other people say that we should not put too much hype into every breakthrough that gets published, but I'd like to bring attention to these little successes. Who knows, maybe somebody out there reading this can make a difference to the timeline...

Thank you for your comment. I checked out your blog. Wow, that got me concerned about radon, alright!

Response from: Michael Rad (04/25/06 3:46pm)

Good point. There are however a few other things many people should be aware of. Most know that cord blood banks collect, process, test and store the donated umbilical cord blood for the public use, taking into account the great number of people who are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases each year. Therefore, cord blood banks look after expectant mothers, informing them about the importance of their umbilical cord blood and the possibility of helping some people who suffer from terrible diseases. Nevertheless, the information and sensitizing of the population is not fully achieved as in the case of simple blood donation. Cord blood stem cell transplants are considered in order to replace blood marrow transplants. The possibility of finding the match for the patients in need increases, as in 2001 the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies stated that roughly 20,000 American lives were saved through transplants of stem cells. I’ve covered some other aspects related to this topic on my website, http://www.cordbloodhub.com
- please let me know if you find them useful.

Regards,

Michael Rad

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