Stem cells: a biological reserve for the whole family
Each stem cell can divide up to produce both a daughter cell equal to the mother and a cell that will go on to construct one of the many tissues of the human body.
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What are the current clinical applications of stem cells?
Haematopoietic stem cells, from which all blood cells derive, are frequently studied in clinical applications [4] for the treatment of numerous diseases by differentiation and transplantation procedures. The storage of cord blood means that retroactive diagnostic tests can be made for hereditary diseases and/or tumours. Other protocols are currently being validated.
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Private banking*
When a cell sample is stored privately by parents and destined for someone belonging to the same family, we talk about private banking.
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Public banking
Public banking means opting for anonymous public donation when your umbilical cord stem cell sample is offered to anyone in need of it.
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Clinical applications
List of pathologies treatable with stem cells. The use of the sample among siblings is still the most frequent and has the most success in transplants that are anyway mostly within the family (blood relations or aplo-identical donors) because of the greater compatibility.
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Clinical studies
Since 1988 doctors having been using cord blood for life-saving treatments[5]. The research into stem cells continuously extends the range of clinical applications for this type of transplant.
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Private or public
The legislation on the storage of umbilical cord blood varies from country to country, even within the European Union: unlike Italy and France, a good 16 European nations have opted for a mixed system, where public centres co-exist with authorized private institutions.
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Notes:
*Barker JN “Umbilical Cord Blood (UCB) Transplantation: An Alternative to the Use of Unrelated Volunteer Donors?” Hematology Am Soc Hematol Educ Program. 2007; (2007): 55-61
**Gluckman E. History of cord blood transplantation, Bone Marrow Transplantation (2009),1-6
