As a source of hematopoietic stem cells, umbilical cord blood has been used in medicine for over 30 years. To date, tens of thousands of cases have been described when umbilical cord blood saved the lives of children and adults with life-threatening diseases. These are mainly malignant diseases of the blood, genetic diseases of metabolism, although increasingly often also for other indications in regenerative therapy.
Summarizing many years of experience in the clinical use of umbilical cord blood allowed doctors to draw the following conclusions, which have been published in several authoritative scientific publications in recent years.
1. Donor umbilical cord blood is less likely to cause immunological complications, in particular graft versus host disease (GvHD).
2. Compared to other sources of hematopoietic stem cells, umbilical cord blood is more effective in the treatment of high-risk acute myeloid leukemia.
3. Umbilical cord blood can be the transplant of choice for high-risk malignant blood diseases, because it is ready for use, and the search for a compatible adult donor and the collection of hematopoietic stem cells in the best case takes several months.
4. Umbilical cord blood can be the transplant of choice (for the reasons described above) in genetic metabolic diseases characterized by a deficiency of vital enzymes. Transplantation in this case should be performed as soon as possible, before toxic products of disturbed metabolism have accumulated in the child’s brain.
5. As a source of hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells, as well as native and manipulated T-lymphocytes (CAR-T), NK-cells, umbilical cord blood is increasingly used in regenerative therapy, oncology, and the treatment of infectious diseases.
Based on: pubmed.gov
