LAUSR

F or centuries, umbilical cord blood was considered medical waste and simply thrown away. However, within the last few years, researchers have dramatically expanded its repertoire of treatments and potential cures. After the umbilical cord is detached from a newborn, the blood within it can be donated, frozen, and stored for years. Medical researchers discovered that this cord blood contains hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells capable of replacing a patient’s entire population of white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. Starting in 1988, doctors demonstrated that cord blood transplantations were a viable alternative to bone marrow transplantations for curing blood-borne cancers and disorders such as Fanconi anemia and sickle cell disease. Unlike a transplantation of donated bone marrow or peripheral blood, a cord blood infusion does not require a close match between the donor and recipient human leukocyte antigens that distinguish between “self” and foreign cells. The more forgiving nature of naive cord blood cells has increased transplantation access to patients who previously lacked good matches through bone marrow registries and has reduced the risk of severe graft-versus-host disease. All told, an estimated 40,000 patients around the world have received cord blood transplantations. With multiple efforts underway to speed the engraftment of these cord blood transplantations, improve animal models for testing cancer therapies, and use the cells to expand the scope of regenerative medicine, experts say cord blood research has hit its stride. The past 18 months have been “probably the most exciting time for technological developments in cellular therapies, particularly in cord blood,” says Mary Laughlin, MD, medical director of the Cleveland Cord Blood Center in Cleveland, Ohio.