Cord blood stem cells

Stem cells are known to be found in great amounts in the umbilical cord blood after the delivery of a baby, umbilical cord blood that was usually thrown away because of the ignorance and poor technological development. Cord blood stem cells are important, viable elements for an unhealthy body with different blood or genetic disorders. Stem cells from umbilical cord blood may take the function of other blood cells that should be replaced in the human body: red or white blood cells and platelets. Moreover, the cord blood research shows that cord blood stem cells may be also used in the treatment of other life-threatening diseases, such as heart and liver diseases, immune system problems, Alzheimer's disease, autoimmune diseases, malignancies, paralysis. Cord blood stem cells are also called omnipotent cells, having also the advantage of being assimilated well by the body without the well-known responses in the patient's organism. Cord blood stem cells may have other applications in the future: diabetes, Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and maybe more diseases due to the technological and medical development in the cord blood research. The main advantage of cord blood stem cells seems to be their capacity of changing into other types of cells in the body, having also regenerative properties, facts that represent a great opportunity for the cord blood researchers. Besides, their availability and versatility may represent another advantage hard to ignore while comparing them with stem cells from bone marrow or from peripheral blood. Cord blood stem cells seem to be an inexhaustible source for curing, treating and improving the health of many patients that suffer from life-threatening diseases.

Nowadays cord blood stem cells transplants were performed in many countries, in over 6,000 transplants for children and adults. The first cord blood stem cell transplant took place in 1988 and then this kind of transplants began to be used worldwide, representing an alternative to bone marrow transplants and even to peripheral blood stem cell transplants, more difficult and with more rejection reactions and complications. Cord blood stem cell transplants are easier to make because of their availability compared to bone marrow transplants that have a difficult matching process. Almost 70 % of the patients that can be treated with the help of bone marrow transplants cannot find their match and even a donor, fact that become more difficult for ethnic minorities. Besides, the cord blood stem cells transplants do not consume so much time as bone marrow transplants. There are also techniques for expanding the availability of cord blood stem cell transplants for the patients in need with highly effective consequences, fact that means no additional transplants.

Umbilical cord blood stem cell therapy may be the most promising and immeasurable opportunities for giving hope to those who may have lost it. Umbilical cord blood stem cell therapy has many advantages and above all the flexibility and availability of cord blood stem cells with merely no matching problems or side effects after the transplantation. The umbilical cord blood stem cell therapy represents a number of newly found techniques and methods whose main role consists in replacing the no more functional cells with healthy ones. The most important aspect is that the cord blood stem cells introduced in the body integrate and begin to function, fighting with the disease or disorder. The experiments in the cord blood stem cell disease therapy seemed to overcome the expectations, fact that gave courage and strength to the cord blood stem cell researchers. These important aspects of the advantages of cord blood stem cell disease therapy raise new challenges and extend the possibilities. New opportunities may be found not only in improving the nowadays techniques and methods, but also in developing new ways of fighting against the life-threatening diseases. There are also cord blood researches in finding the best cord blood stem cell disease therapy in the case of cancer and AIDS.