title: Ex vivo expansion of umbilical cord blood for transplantation.
abstract: Umbilical cord blood (UCB) has become an important source of hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) for hematologic malignancies in adults. Its ready availability, allowance of higher HLA disparity and lower incidence of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) makes it a very attractive source especially for minority populations. The major limitation to a wider use of this source of HSCT is the relative low number of progenitor cells in the graft. For this reason, adult UCB transplants are usually associated with delayed engraftment and increased rates of infectious complications. CB ex vivo expansion holds the promise of delivering higher cell doses and improved outcomes. Here we discuss different methods of expansion, their shortcomings and future directions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, 77030, USA.
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Tung
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Parmar
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Lima
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Shpall
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D036101:Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology*; D006085:Graft Survival; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D006648:Histocompatibility; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous