Stem Cell and Cord Blood News

The laboratory, in The University of Manchester Incubator Company’s (UMIC) new Core Technology Facility (CTF), will be overseen by UKCBB’s Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Peter Hollands and will receive cord blood samples from throughout the UK, the EU and Middle East from autumn 2006.

Children with a fatal genetic disorder called Krabbe Disease can be saved and their brain development preserved if they receive stem cells from umbilical cord blood before symptoms of the disease develop, according to a study published in the May 19, 2005, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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

Researchers from the University of South Florida (USF) and James A. Haley Veterans Hospital have reported in the journal Cell Transplantation that stem cells from umbilical cord blood effectively treated heart attacks in an animal study.

University of Minnesota researchers present the promising results from umbilical cord blood studies for patients with cancers of the blood and bone marrow.

This transcript from the VOA radio show Science in the News, highlights the way in which cord blood cells can rebuild the natural defense system of an adult with leukemia.

An improved stem cell transplant regimen that is well-tolerated and has a high success rate has been developed by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The procedure holds promise for treatment of blood and bone marrow disorders, immune dysfunction and certain metabolic disorders. Designed for transplants that replace a patient's bone marrow with stem cells from donor marrow, peripheral blood or umbilical cord blood, the procedure allows early recovery of immune function, nearly eliminates transplant rejection, and decreases the incidence and severity of "graft vs. host disease," a common complication in transplants.

Major studies show that umbilical-cord blood, now used mostly to treat children with leukemia, could save thousands of adults with the disease each year who cannot find bone marrow donors.

Research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that stem cells from bone marrow or umbilical cord blood may be useful for treating people with liver damage due to cirrhosis, viral infection, trauma, chemotherapy or radiation therapy.