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Doctors see potential in using cord blood stem cells as viable options for therapy in an ever growing list of diseases and conditions. Cord blood is currently used as an optional form of therapy in up to 75 life-threatening diseases and conditions.
Researchers continue to conduct medical trials testing the viability of cord blood in various blood diseases and medical disorders. There are a number of benchmarks that experts continue to bank off:
· Cord blood is known as a rich source of hematopoietic stem cells
· Cord blood is found in the placenta and umbilical cord of newborn babies
· Cord blood is collected with no risk to the health of the mother or newborn baby
· Cord blood stem cells have been used in over 20,000 transplants around the world
· Unlike bone marrow, cord blood does not need to be an exact genetic match between donor and recipient
Cord blood has been most commonly used to improve lives of patients with leukaemia, lymphoma, and other blood or marrow diseases. But researchers believe there are more opportunities to use cord blood as a source of therapy for auto-immune diseases, including Type 1 Diabetes, MS, or cerebral palsy.
Much of this research is conducted with donated cord blood samples stored within public donor banks across much of the world. But researchers believe if clinical trials are successful, those successes will translate into greater need and use for private family cord blood banks that store cord blood samples for the specific need of individual families.
As doctors conduct more clinical trials, the results could highlight increased benefits derived from cord blood stem cells, and increase the need for trusted cord blood banks.