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What are umbilical cord stem cells and why we collect them?
The umbilical cord, connecting the foetus with the mother is cut at the time of delivery and discarded. Cord blood (the remaining blood in the umbilical cord) is full of «stem cells» which is the origin of the body"s immune and blood system.
In the 1970"s, medical researchers discovered that human umbilical cord blood contained the same kind of stem cells found in bone marrow. Because stem cells from bone marrow had already been used to treat patients suffering from diseases like leukaemia and other immune system disorders, researchers believed that they could also use stem cells from umbilical cord blood to save patients.
In 1988, umbilical cord stem cells were first used for transplantation on a 5-year old boy suffering from Fanconi"s anaemia in France. The boy was cured of the disease and is still alive.
Based on this and other successful transplants, doctors and medical researchers began to collect, freeze and store cord blood units at cord banks throughout the world to treat several ailments and
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