What is cord blood transplantation? What diseases can be treated?

by Specialist

Cord blood from newborn babies is rich in hematopoietic stem cells that can rebuild the body’s hematopoietic and immune systems, and it can be collected and frozen for allogeneic stem cell transplantation, turning waste into treasure and saving lives.

Cord Blood Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Benefits Disadvantages

  • Little chance of virus contamination;

  • Quickly available;

  • No risk to the donor;

  • Relatively low incidence and extent of acute graft versus host disease (GVHD) after transplantation;

  • A rich source.

  • Lower cord blood implantation rate than peripheral blood HSCT due to lower number of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells in cord blood;

  • Increased risk of complications from infection early in transplantation due to delayed implantation of hematopoietic stem cells from umbilical cord blood.

Currently, hematopoietic stem cells from umbilical cord blood can be used to treat a variety of hematologic and immunologic disorders, including:

  • hematologic malignancies (e.g., acute leukemia, chronic leukemia, multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic syndrome, lymphoma, etc.);

  • hemoglobinopathies (e.g., maritime anemia);

  • bone marrow hematopoietic failure (e.g., aplastic anemia);

  • Congenital metabolic disorders;

  • Congenital immunodeficiency disorders;

  • autoimmune disorders, etc.