title: Clinical and experimental study on therapeutic effect of umbilical cord blood transplantation on severe viral hepatitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the therapeutic effect of umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) on patients with severe viral hepatitis and on liver lesions in rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and fifty three patients with severe viral hepatitis were included in the study between April 1990 and July 2002. The patients were treated with adult plasma transfusion (control), UCBT, plasma exchange (PE) and UCBT combined with PE (UCBT+PE) respectively. The therapeutic effectiveness was evaluated by serial determinations of liver function, lipids and immune function in all patients before and after the treatment. The model of experimental hepatic failure was constructed in SD rats by injecting carbon tetrachloride. Then, the rats were given normal saline, adult plasma or neonate cord blood intraperitoneally. After detection of liver function, the rats were killed and morphological changes of the liver were microscopically observed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  UCBT group and UCBT+PE group had much better improvement in liver and immune functions than control group and PE group. The patients in UCBT+PE group had the best clinical efficacy. UCBT was safe and had no side effects. The animal experiment showed significant improvements in liver function and survival rate in neonate cord blood group as compared with adult plasma group. The histopathology of rat's liver indicated that neonate cord blood application could decrease the liver injury and increase hepatocellular regeneration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  UCBT demonstrated a good therapeutic effect on severe viral hepatitis and no obvious side effects. Umbilical cord blood can attenuate the liver lesions and reproduce hepatocyte. The treatment of UCBT combined with PE was much better than that of single plasma exchange, thus UCBT can enhance the therapeutic effect of plasma exchange on severe viral hepatitis.
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Liver Diseases, the Second Xiangya Hospital, Zhongnan University, Changsha 410011, Hunan Province, China. xiaopeng59@yahoo.com.cn
authors.forename: Xiao-Peng
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Yi-Ling
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Wen-Long
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000637:transplantation*; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010951:Plasma Exchange; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome