What are stem cells?
Stem cells are the basic "building block" cells which, both in adult life and during embryonic development, grow to form all of the specialised tissues and organs that make up the human body such as heart muscle, bone, nerves and blood.
Stem cells play a vital role throughout our lives, building, forming, and repairing
Why umbilical cord blood?
Your newborn's cord blood, like bone marrow, is an important source of stem cells. Unlike bone marrow collection, cord blood is obtained by a simple, non-invasive procedure following the safe delivery of your baby. Blood is drawn from the umbilical vein after the cord is clamped, a procedure that only takes a few moments to complete. Following processing and cryopreservation, the stem cells are available for use immediately. Stem cells in cord blood are termed "adult stem cells" to differentiate them from stem cells derived from embryos, the embryonic stem cell. Adult stem cells from cord blood are derived from full-term pregnancy and are thus a non-controversial source of these cells.
Cord blood, is not only a perfect match for your baby, but also has a 1 in 4 chance of being a perfect tissue match for a sibling, should it be needed for transplant. Cord blood also produces less graft-versus-host disease in patients, thereby reducing the risk of serious complications. Since there is less need for perfect matching, cord blood from newborns has been used to treat diseases in their parents and even unrelated individuals.
What diseases can be treated?
Stem cells from the umbilical cord are currently being used to treat disease, often replacing bone marrow transplantation as the source of stem cells to combat certain types of cancer such as leukemia’s, lymphomas and cure various genetic diseases. To date, some 70 blood and genetic diseases have been treated by cord blood transplantation.
It has been found that cord blood, like bone marrow, contains other types of stem cells capable of regenerating other tissues such as bone, nerve cells, heart muscle and cartilage, thus paving the way for future medical treatments for stroke, heart disease, Alzheimer's and rheumatoid arthritis.
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