Banking Umbilical Cord Tissue
Expectant parents can now also collect and preserve stem cells from the tissue of the umbilical cord, whose medical name is Wharton's jelly. Whereas cord blood is a rich source of Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) that differentiate to form the lineage of blood cells, cord tissue is a rich source of Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). The International Society of Cellular Therapy. ISCT, has established criteria for defining MSC. Mesenchymal stem cells differentiate to build bone, cartilage and connective tissue, and they are also very effective at mediating the body’s inflammatory response to damaged or injured cells. Harvesting the tissue of the umbilical cord can yield between 21 and 500 million MSC. A typical cord blood collection in a private bank has a median CD34+ (HSC) count of 1.6 million. For parents, private storage at birth of stem cells from both cord blood and cord tissue offer more options for future medical use.
Numerous clinical trials are using MSC derived from the bone marrow of adult volunteers to treat heart disease, stroke, bone disease and injury, and autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 Diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis, and Crohn’s Disease. As of yet, there are no clinical trials in humans using MSCs derived from cord tissue. However, over 50 studies have used MSC derived from cord tissue to treat animal models of human diseases, including: Lung Cancer, Parkinson's Disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Sports injuries to cartilage, and Type 1 Diabetes.
Currently there is no standard procedure or accrediting criteria for storage of MSC from umbilical cord tissue. Many cord blood banks are storing the cord tissue by freezing an intact segment of the umbilical cord. This procedure has the advantage of waiting for the technology of cell separation to mature, but has the disadvantage that there is no guarantee it will be possible to efficiently retrieve viable stem cells from a previously frozen cord. A few cord blood banks are extracting stem cells from the cord tissue before cryogenic storage. This procedure has the disadvantage that it uses the current separation method, but the advantage that it yields minimally manipulated cells that are treatment ready and comply with FDA regulations on cell therapy products.
Read more about this topic: Cord Blood
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