Medical Multiple Uses For Human Umbilical Stem Cells

The use of embryonic stem cells in medical research is fraught with controversy so umbilical cord stem cells may be an attractive alternative. Six thousand patients throughout the world have been treated with material derived from cord blood. Stem cells have the ability either to divide and form new stem cells or to differentiate into specialized tissue types to perform a diversity of functions.

In embryos, this cellular material is found during the blastocyst stage, about five days after fertilization has taken place in human beings. The blastocyst contains between 75 and 100 units of tissue. They also exist in the bone marrow in adults and in the umbilical cord of newborn babies. They have tremendous potential to cure a growing number of diseases and have already been used as transplants in patients with diabetes and diseases of the blood.

One of the benefits of using umbilical material is its abundant supply, moral acceptability and ease of harvest. This material is normally thrown away as medical waste. They are better than bone marrow-derived material because they are less likely to be rejected by the recipient and there are no consequences for the donor. Harvesting of bone marrow is an invasive surgical procedure and extremely painful for the donor. They are preferable to embryonic tissue for their reduced potential for the formation of tumors.

Used to treat leukemia, other cancers and diseases of the blood, they have been used to treat Type 1 diabetes and brain injury. Research is also underway in deafness and stroke.

Scientists in Texas have been granted approval from the US FDA to perform clinical studies to determine if children whose cord cells have been banked can successfully use them to promote healing from traumatic brain injury later in childhood. Evidence was presented early in 2011 demonstrating that human cord material can be persuaded to develop along neural cell lines such as neurons and glia. Rat studies have shown that they can be used to facilitate restoration of function in patients following a stroke.

Clinical trials are under way in China to determine whether this primitive material, when infused into the pancreatic artery of patients with Type 1 diabetes can be programmed to manufacture and secrete insulin. Pancreatic tissue was successfully grown in vitro using cellular material from the umbilical cords of newborn babies. They were shown to secrete insulin.

When stem tissue units were discovered in the inner ear, scientists wondered whether transplants could be used to restore hearing. Human beings have 15,000 hair tissue units in each ear at birth. If enough of them become damaged or lost, deafness can be the result. Research is being undertaken to determine if stem cells can be used to regenerate this essential hair-bearing cellular material.

Some animals, like birds, can spontaneously regenerate these essential hairs while human beings cannot. Birds also do not lose their hearing. Researcher Stefan Heller has produced embryonic cells in a test tube that can be programmed to become hair cells and further develop once they have been transplanted into the ears of chickens.

Located at Toronto General Hospital, we are a clinic experienced in cord blood storage and cord blood banking. We are a blood cord clinic that specializes in stem cell isolation, cord blood storage and cord clood banking.