title: Umbilical cord blood immunology: relevance to stem cell transplantation.
abstract: Because of its easier accessibility and less severe graft-versus-host disease, umbilical cord blood (UCB) has been increasingly used as an alternative to bone marrow for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Naiveté of UCB lymphocytes, however, results in delayed immune reconstitution and infection-related mortality in transplant recipients. This review updates the phenotypic and functional deficiencies of various immune cell populations in UCB compared with their adult counterparts and discusses clinical implications and possible therapeutic strategies to improve the outcome of stem cell transplantation.
authors.affiliation: Division of Asthma, Allergy, and Rheumatology Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Children's Hospital, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Syh-Jae
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Dah-Chin
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Yen-Chang
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Hsiu-Shan
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Hsiao
authors.forename: Pei-Tzu
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Yu-Wen
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Ming-Ling
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Kuo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D036101:Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans