Umbilical cord blood is currently used for the treatment of various diseases. On World Umbilical Cord Blood Day, November 15, we emphasize that this source of stem cells is increasingly the therapeutic solution of choice in treatments that require a hematopoietic transplant.
“From hospital waste, the therapeutic option has already been used in more than 45,000 treatments for children and adults, in response to more than 90 diseases whose treatment required a hematopoietic transplant. It is here that stem cells from umbilical cord blood have brought us, in just over 30 years of research, since their discovery in the mid-1980s”, emphasizes the CEO of Crioestaminal, Monica Brito.
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The latest statistics show that one in 400 people, up to the age of 70, may need their stem cells for a hematopoietic transplant. If we add to this probability the need for a transplant with cells donated by someone else, this estimate goes to about one in 200 people, according to a scientific study, published in the journal Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation.
Compared with peripheral blood or bone marrow, umbilical cord blood has some benefits, such as greater permissibility in the degree of compatibility between donor and patient and lower risk of transmission of infectious agents. These cells are easy and painless to harvest after birth, without any risk to the mother or baby, and are also readily available for transplantation, avoiding the waiting period for a compatible donor.
In most transplants ever performed, cord blood has been used to treat blood and immune system disorders. However, cord blood cells can also be applied in the field of regenerative medicine, outside the context of hematopoietic transplantation, in diseases as varied as type 1 diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, cerebral palsy, spinal injuries. marrow, among others.
The first use of umbilical cord blood in regenerative medicine took place in 2005 in the United States, in the treatment of a child with neurological injuries.
Since then, the potential of cord blood stem cells has been increasingly studied, with more than 400 clinical trials currently underway using cord blood stem cells.
In these clinical trials, which involve hundreds of participants in various parts of the world, it has been shown that the administration of umbilical cord blood in regenerative medicine is safe and can effectively be a decisive therapeutic option in situations of serious illness.
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