Review : the use of umbilical cord stem cells as a form of treatment

Abstract

Stem cells are a type of cells that can self-renew and undergo lineage differentiation – this is what is known as “developmental plasticity”. Once regarded as a waste product, the umbilical cord was found to be a good source of hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells in 1974, with the first successful transplantation occurring in 1988. The use of umbilical cord as a source of hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation has many advantages over other sources of haematopoietic stem cells, namely the bone marrow. Advantages include a larger amount of stem cells per unit volume, decreased risk of transmission of Epstein-Barr virus and cytomegalovirus infections, greater tolerance of Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) mismatches and the ability to be stored in a bank. In this review, we assessed the safety and efficacy of using umbilical cord blood-derived stem cells as treatment for different diseases by looking into some of the latest clinical cases.