Ex vivo expansion of hematopoietic cells from umbilical cord blood for clinical transplantation.
Stem cell transplantation (SCT) has achieved significant therapeutic success over the last 10 years, providing a viable treatment option for many previously incurable diseases. However, several inherent limitations of the procedure have restricted its widespread use. These include: lack of sufficient donors for all recipients, a period of bone marrow (BM) aplasia leading to severe, prolonged neutropenia and thrombocytopenia, and the potential for tumor contamination in autologous SCT. Umbilical cord blood (UCB) provides a unique, and potentially more successful, approach to alleviating these limitations. Ex vivo manipulation of hematopoietic stem (HSCs) and progenitor cells (HPCs) derived from UCB using a liquid culture system has revealed that the primitive HSCs from UCB are not identical to their BM counterparts. In fact, these cells may derive from a more primitive stem cell compartment. Ultimately, successful engraftment of UCB HSCs manipulated in an ex vivo environment may lead to a larger number of these life-saving procedures being performed and the full potential of SCT realized.
Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
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PD
Conrad
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SG
Emerson
D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology*; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D009503:Neutropenia / Q000628:therapy*; D013921:Thrombocytopenia / Q000628:therapy*