Stem Cells - Placental Cord Blood

From Embryology

Introduction

Blood stem cell

Placenta and placental cord blood (umbilical cord blood, UCB) contains stem cells that can be harvested at birth (More? Placenta Development). The total amout of blood that can be collected is about 90 ml, from which stem cells can be collected, typed and stored in Cord Blood Banks. Both public and private Cord Blood Banks have arisen in this area. These cells provide a resource for bone marrow replacement therapy in many diseases.

Bone marrow transplantation was originally the only treatment available for many otherwise fatal diseases. Recently, cord blood transplantation has developed as a new alternative therapy for some of these same diseases.

Placental cord blood is a rich souce of haematopoietic stem cells for transplantation. Cord blood can collected at birth, with no impact on the mother or neonate, and stured in cord blood banks for later use.

BBC (UK) A brief article on Cord Blood stem cells and their therapeutic potential.

A useful guide (online PDF document) to stem cells was produced in a report by the National Institute of Health (NIH, USA, May 2000) Stem Cells: A Primer (PDF 1.89 MB) and more recently NIH has established a Stem Cell information page.

Stem Cell Links: Introduction | Timeline | Placental Cord Blood | Adult | Induced pluripotent stem cell | Yamanaka Factors | Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer | Ethics | Organoids | Adult Human Cell Types | Category:Stem Cell

Some Recent Findings

  • Reprogramming of Human Umbilical Cord Stromal Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Myogenic Differentiation and Muscle Repair 20665127 "Human umbilical cord stromal mesenchymal stem cells (hUCS-MSCs) have the potential to differentiate into numerous cell types including epithelial cells, neurons and hepatocytes in vitro, in addition to mesenchyme-derived cells such as osteocytes, chondrocytes and adipocytes. One important property of these cells is the lack of type II major histocompatibility complex class molecules, thus allowing them to be considered as an excellent candidate for transplantations."
  • Human umbilical cord blood treatment in a mouse model of ALS[1] "...These results demonstrate that treatment for ALS with an appropriate dose of MNC hUCB cells may provide a neuroprotective effect for motor neurons through active involvement of these cells in modulating the host immune inflammatory system response."
  • Umbilical cord blood transplantation for myeloid malignancies[2] "Umbilical cord blood is a valuable alternative source of hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation of patients with myeloid malignancies who need an allogeneic transplant, but lack a suitable sibling donor."
  • World's first public-private cord blood bank launched in UK (2007)[3] "The Virgin Health Bank will provide parents with the facility to store their child's umbilical cord blood in two portions - one as a private sample (about 80%) for the sole use of the child and his or her family and the second as a public sample (20%), available free of charge to anyone requiring stem cell transplantation."

Cord Blood Registries

Cord blood collection statistics began in 1994 and have been increasing ever since. In January 2007, there were 254,000 cord blood units collected in worldwide registries.


Cord Blood Units Register (Data from: Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide Cord Blood Registries)

CBU Cord Blood Units

NVC Net Volume Collected of CBU Volume of the unit in milliliters; see note below.

TNC Total Nucleated Cells count of CBU The rounded number of nucleated cells in the units of 10 million.

CD34P Collected number of CD34+ cells of CBU Cell count after volume reduction; numeric value with decimal point in units of 1 million.

MONONUC Collected number of mononuclear cells of CBU The rounded number of mononuclear cells in the units of 10 million.

Diseases

The list of diseases that were transplanted with cord blood include the following: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, Acute Myeloblastic Leukaemia, Adrenoleukodystrophy, Blackfan-Diamond, Cancer-miscellaneous, Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia, Chronic Lymphocytic leukaemia, Fanconi's Anaemia, Genetic disorders - miscellaneous, Hurler's Syndrome, Immune deficiency-Miscellaneous, Krabbe's disease, Lymphomas, Myelodysplastic Syndrome, Mucolipopolysaccharide deficiency, Osteopetrosis, Syndrome Severe Aplastic Anaemia, Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disease, Storage disorders, Thalassaemia, Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome (From: The Sydney Cord Blood Bank)

Australia

Australia has three cord blood banks (CBBs) located in Brisbane (Queensland), Sydney (New South Wales) and Melbourne (Victoria). AusCord is the Australian national network of umbilical cord blood banks and cord blood collection centres.

Links: Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry | The Sydney Cord Blood Bank (SCBB) | Melbourne - BMDI Cord Blood Bank | Queensland Cord Blood Bank | PDF - AusCord Brochure

United States

On August 9, 2001, at 9:00 p.m. EDT, the President announced his decision to allow Federal funds to be used for research on existing human embryonic stem cell lines as long as prior to his announcement (1) the derivation process (which commences with the removal of the inner cell mass from the blastocyst) had already been initiated and (2) the embryo from which the stem cell line was derived no longer had the possibility of development as a human being.

In addition, the President established the following criteria that must be met:

  • The stem cells must have been derived from an embryo that was created for reproductive purposes;
  • The embryo was no longer needed for these purposes;
  • Informed consent must have been obtained for the donation of the embryo;
  • No financial inducements were provided for donation of the embryo.

In order to facilitate research using human embryonic stem cells, the NIH is creating a Human Embryonic Stem Cell Registry that will list the human embryonic stem cell lines -- at varying stages of development -- that meet the eligibility criteria. Listed below are entities that have developed stem cell lines that meet the President's criteria and are therefore eligible for federal funding. Please click on the name of the laboratory or company for contact information.

Dartmouth ethics professor discusses promise and pitfalls of stem cell research (2005)

NIH Clinical Trials (May 2004) Launches Study of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Severe, Treatment-Resistant Lupus (NIAMS, May 13,2004)

A clinical therapeutic trial in the USA for hematopoietic stem cells in an autoimmune disease.

"A five-year study to see whether a therapy using transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells, blood stem cells found in bone marrow, can produce long-term remission for patients with severe, treatment-resistant systemic lupus erythematosus (or lupus), a rheumatic autoimmune disease that can affect the body's major organs. The study will include a basic research component to examine the roles of B and T cells, white blood cells in the immune system, in triggering lupus symptoms."

Read more of the NIH Press Release

Note that a May search of NIH Clinical Trials with "stem cell" found 302 study results.

Repeat search: NIH Clinical Trials with "stem cell"

A recent paper has also identified SP cells in ovarian cancer which have properties similar to stem cells.[4]

References

  1. <pubmed>18575617</pubmed>
  2. <pubmed>17255794</pubmed>
  3. <pubmed>17289702</pubmed>|Virgin Health Bank
  4. <pubmed>16574858</pubmed>

Journals

  • Cell Stem Cell is the official affiliated journal of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR).
  • Stem Cells welcomes original articles and concise reviews describing basic laboratory investigations of stem cells and the translation of their clinical aspects of characterization and manipulation from the bench to patient care. The journal covers all aspects of stem cells: embryonic stem cells; tissue-specific stem cells; cancer stem cells; the stem cell niche; stem cell genomics and proteomics; and translational and clinical researc

Reviews

<pubmed>17123231</pubmed> <pubmed>16618241</pubmed> <pubmed>16409157</pubmed> <pubmed>16479735</pubmed>

Articles

<pubmed>18575617</pubmed> <pubmed>17255794</pubmed> <pubmed>16728260</pubmed>

Search PubMed

July 2010 "cord stem cell" All (9884) Review (1260) Free Full Text (2357)


Search PubMed Now: cord stem cell | cord blood bank

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Cite this page: Hill, M.A. (2024, March 29) Embryology Stem Cells - Placental Cord Blood. Retrieved from https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Stem_Cells_-_Placental_Cord_Blood

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© Dr Mark Hill 2024, UNSW Embryology ISBN: 978 0 7334 2609 4 - UNSW CRICOS Provider Code No. 00098G