What Diseases can be Treated with Umbilical Cord Blood?
Umbilical cord blood is rich in stem cells. These stem cells are hematopoietic (blood) stem cells that are able to make platelets, red blood cells and white blood cells.
For the past 30 years, stem cell transplants using umbilical cord blood have been used to treat leukemia, anemia and other blood-related disorders. In fact, umbilical cord blood is now being used to treat approximately 75 diseases.
Current stem cell applications include:
- Acute Leukemia
- Chronic Leukemias
- Myelodysplastic Syndromes such as Amyloidosis
- Stem Cell Disorders such as Aplastic Anemia
- Myeloproliferative Disorders
- Lymphoproliferative Disorders such as Hogdkins Disease
- Phagocyte Disorders
- Liposomal Storage Diseases
- Histiocytic Disorders
- Inherited Erythrocyte Abnormalities such as Sickle Cell Disease
- Congenital Immune System Disorders such as Wiskott-Aldrich
- Inherited Platelet Abnormalities
- Plasma Cell Leukemia
- Malignancies such as brain tumors, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and testicular cancer
- Autoimmune Diseases
- Other Inherited Diseases such as Tay Sachs Disease.
Looking ahead, researchers are hopeful that stem cells will be used to treat not only these blood-related disorders, but also other debilitating and life threatening diseases.
Researchers are interested in using cord blood stem cells to potentially treat:
- Type I diabetes
- Alzheimer's
- Heart Disease
- Liver Disease
- Muscular Distrophy
- Parkinson's Disease
- Stroke
- Spinal Cord Injuries
Clinical trials are currently being run with the intent of expanding the therapeutic use of stem cells. These studies using human subjects aim to investigate the efficacy of stem cells in treating a broader range of disorders and diseases.