Cilmes šūnu banka SIA

The term „umbilical cord blood” means a small amount of blood that is found in the afterbirth and umbilical cord after the birth. The qualities of umbilical cord blood differ from the qualities of ordinary blood. The major trait is stem haemophoesis (i.e. blood and the immune-system formation), because these cells are normally found only in the bone marrow. Only stem cells are able to develop haemophoetic tissue. Stem cell cord blood is used for transplantations when bone marrow is damaged or does not function properly. The umbilical cord blood stem cells are unique in a number of ways – they have longer telomers compared to equivalent cells of an adult, they show faster growing dynamics and rarely trigger rejection process after a transplantation. As a transplantation material, these cells consist of a smaller amount of damaged genomes, compared to cells of an adult donor, and there is a smaller risk of patient infection at stem cell transplantations.

Thanks to a faster regeneration, the stem cells ensure a bigger chance of a successful transplantation compared to mature bone marrow cells.

A real issue with stem cells lies in their small amount - they can be acquired from umbilical cord blood and the amount of the blood is rather small. This is a problem for transplantations, limiting the therapy opportunities for people with a higher body mass. The solution of this problem is expected, when scientists discover new, more effective techniques to multiply stem cells in vitro.

The qualities of umbilical cord blood is a strong enough argument for their usage in auto transplantations, instead of bone marrow. The main pro is that the way of harvesting stem cells is non-aggressive. The gathering of cord blood cells does not harm the child, nor the mother, and so there are no moral or ethical restrictions.

There have been thousands of umbilical cord blood transplantations until now, and the number is increasing with every day.