title: Umbilical cord blood cells from unrelated donor as an alternative source of hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation in children and adults.
abstract: Umbilical cord blood (CB) is an alternative source of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) for patients requiring allogeneic HSC transplantation but lacking a suitable human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched donor. Using CB has many advantages, including lower HLA-matching requirements, increased donor availability, and low rates of graft-versus-host disease. Furthermore, with over 630,000 cryopreserved volunteer CB units currently stored in international CB banks worldwide, CB is rapidly available for those patients requiring urgent transplantation. However, concern remains over the low HSC doses available in CB grafts, resulting in delayed engraftment and poor immune reconstitution. This article reviews the current use and future developments of unrelated allogeneic CB transplantation (CBT). An overview of the encouraging results of CBT and the comparisons with other HSC sources and transplant strategies both in children and adults with malignant and non-malignant diseases are shown. We will discuss important factors that need to be considered when selecting CB units for transplantation to further improve the results of CBT.
authors: Department of Haematology, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom; NHS Blood and Transplant, Oxford Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom; Eurocord, Hôpital Saint Louis APHP, University Paris VII IUH Paris, France; Department of Hematology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: rocha.vanderson@hotmail.fr.
authors: Vanderson
authors: V
authors: Rocha
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D036101:Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation; D005312:Fetal Blood; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells; D006801:Humans; D061349:Unrelated Donors
keywords: Adults and children; Clinical results; Unrelated cord blood transplantation