title: Quality and exploitation of umbilical cord blood for cell therapy: Are we beyond our capabilities?
abstract: There is increasing interest in identifying novel stem cell sources for application in emerging cell therapies. In this context, umbilical cord blood (UCB) shows great promise in multiple clinical settings. The number of UCB banks has therefore increased worldwide, with the objective of preserving potentially life-saving cells that are usually discarded after birth. After a rather long and costly processing procedure, the resultant UCB-derived cell products are cryopreserved until transplantation to patients. However, in many cases, only a small proportion of administered cells engraft successfully. Thus, can we do any better regarding current UCB-based therapeutic approaches? Here we discuss concerns about the use of UCB that are not critically pondered by researchers, clinicians, and banking services, including wasting samples with small volumes and the need for more reliable quality and functional controls to ensure the biological activity of stem cells and subsequent engraftment and treatment efficacy. Finally, we appeal for collaborative agreements between research institutions and UCB banks in order to redirect currently discarded small-volume UCB units for basic and clinical research purposes. Developmental Dynamics 245:710-717, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Heart Failure and Cardiac Regeneration (ICREC) Research Program, Germans Trias i Pujol Health Science Research Institute, Can Ruti Campus, Crta.Can Ruti-Camí Escoles s/n, 08916, Badalona, Spain.|Center of Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona, c/ Dr. Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Santiago
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roura
authors.affiliation: Cell Processing Laboratory, Edifici Giroemprèn, Pic de Peguera 11, Parc Científic i Tecnològic Universitat de Girona, 17003, Girona, Spain.
authors.forename: Josep Maria
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pujal
authors.affiliation: Heart Failure and Cardiac Regeneration (ICREC) Research Program, Germans Trias i Pujol Health Science Research Institute, Can Ruti Campus, Crta.Can Ruti-Camí Escoles s/n, 08916, Badalona, Spain.
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gálvez-Montón
authors.affiliation: Heart Failure and Cardiac Regeneration (ICREC) Research Program, Germans Trias i Pujol Health Science Research Institute, Can Ruti Campus, Crta.Can Ruti-Camí Escoles s/n, 08916, Badalona, Spain.|Cardiology Service, Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, Crta.Can Ruti-Camí Escoles s/n, 08916, Badalona, Spain.|Department of Medicine, Crta. Can Ruti-Camí Escoles s/n, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08916, Badalona, Spain.
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bayes-Genis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000094902:Blood Banking / Q000379:methods; D064987:Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology
keywords: cell therapy; cord blood banking; hematopoietic stem cells; mesenchymal stem cells; umbilical cord blood