Lifeline Cord Blood

Although preclinical trials have shown that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are therapeutically effective against atopic dermatitis, actual clinical studies had not yet confirmed it – until now.

MSCs are typically found in bone marrow, but it can be isolated from other locations such as the fallopian tube, fetal liver, fetal lung, and even from umbilical cord blood.

In a major breakthrough, scientists have managed to grow artificial skin using stem cells derived from the umbilical cord. Scientists from the Tissue Engineering Research Group at the Department of Histology at the University of Granada demonstrated the ability of Wharton jelly mesenschymal stem cells to turn to oral-mucosa or skin-regeneration epithelia.

ScienceDaily

Physicians at the University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Children's Hospital, Fairview have set the path to a cure for a young boy's fatal genetic skin disease, recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), by using a cord blood and bone marrow transplant. Nate Liao, a 25-month-old from Clarksburg, N.J., underwent the experimental therapy in October 2007...

It is only within the past decade that Dr. Kurtzberg’s group at Duke University demonstrated that storage disorders could be successfully treated with cord blood transplants. The cord blood transplant is able to correct the patients’ metabolism so that they create the enzymes they need to clean their cells and their neurological conditions improve.

The stored stem cells aren’t just reserved for your baby and can be used for other siblings or close family members. This is because cord blood doesn’t require perfect matching, which means you have more donor options should you require them.
There is no question that my husband and I are storing these stem cells to ensure we are giving our child the best possible start in life by having a backup plan to mitigate health issues in the unfortunate event illness strikes.

If you’re having a kid, you’ll have to decide at some point (preferably before the missus goes into labor) if you want to bank the kid’s cord blood. So, it would be good to have a little knowledge on the subject beyond your mother-in-law’s assurance that planting it under the old oak tree out back will bring Junior good fortune.

A medication used to treat joint and skin conditions might also help people whose only hope of surviving cancer is receiving stem cells from a donor, according to research by a University of British Columbia scientist.

By Joyce Howard Price, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

A team of Texas and British researchers says it has produced large amounts of embryoniclike stem cells from umbilical cord blood, potentially ending the ethical debate affecting stem-cell research -- the need to kill human embryos...

In general sibling donors are better than unrelated donors for stem cell transplants.
The exact comparison depends on the patient's diagnosis and the stage of disease. The two important measures of patient outcome after a stem cell transplant are: long-term survival, and the amount of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) that the patient suffers.

Rare Multi-Lineage Progenitor Cells Provide New, Viable Platform for Stem Cell Research Free from Public, Political Controversy Surrounding Use of Embryonic Stem Cells...

Review highlights MLPC's utility for therapeutic and cell regeneration applications

ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BioE®, Inc., a biomedical company that provides enabling, high-quality human stem cells for drug discovery and therapeutic research, announced today a review article published in the December 2007 issue (Vol. 35, Issue 12) of the journal Experimental Hematology features its Multi-Lineage Progenitor Cell™ (MLPC™) as a cord blood stem cell with potential for therapeutic and cell regeneration applications...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (BUSINESS WIRE)

BioE(R), Inc., a biomedical company providing human cord blood stem cells as enabling, high-quality cellular tools for drug discovery and therapeutic research, announced today researchers at the University of Minnesota, using BioE's proprietary stem cell isolation technology...

Technology amazes us in many ways. These days, the medical technology has exceeded the expectations of people and continuously keep on overwhelming us in different ways. Regenerative medicine is one of the latest technology in the medical field that aims at regeneration, repair, or replacing damaged organs and tissue. CEO of Induce BiologicsCameron Clokie takes a look at what makes this cutting edge field interesting.

Pretreated monocytes play a role in amyloid-β clearance, and may help confer positive effects for Alzheimer's disease sufferers

Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair

Putnam Valley, NY. (Sept. 9, 2015) - Alzheimer's disease (AD), which affects an estimated 26 million people worldwide, is the fourth leading cause of death among the elderly and the leading cause of dementia. Predictions are that the number of AD cases will quadruple by 2050.

BBC News

Scientists say stem cells from a baby's umbilical cord can be stored frozen for at least 15 years. It offers potential for treating cancer or certain other diseases a child might develop in future life.

By Ania Lichtarowicz, BBC Health Correspondent

Researchers in the US say they have been using stem cells to successfully treat genetic diseases in children. The doctors told a conference that cells taken from umbilical cord blood can turn into healthy heart cells, for instance, and repair damaged tissue.

Stacie Bloom, The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Volume 115, Number 6

Experts are making an effort to set up a national network of umbilical cord blood banks to coordinate collection and distribution of these cells. But they must first figure out how to establish and fund such a network so that physicians will be able to provide patients with suitable cells in a timely manner...

Cord Blood Stem Cells: The Diverse Population of Newborn Stem Cells

NewScientist.com News Service, Andy Coghlan

Hopes for treating disease with stem cells from umbilical cord blood has received a major boost, following the discovery of primitive cells with clinical potential matching that of the far more controversial embryonic stem cells (ESCs). The latter are originally derived from human fetuses, which are then destroyed, and have become a major ethical issue, especially in the US...

'What’s really exciting is that in such a short period of time we found an improvement in functional ability'

When scientists reported this spring that blood from human babies had made old mice smarter, the next logical step, they said, was to see whether young blood could have the same rejuvenating effects on human brains.