Umbilical cord blood contains a large number of immature stem cells, which are primitive cells and have the ability to differentiate into various cells. The regeneration ability and speed are 10 ~ 20 times that of adult cells, and it can be used to treat cancer, blood, cranial nerve and immune system diseases. Among them, umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem cells accounted for the largest proportion, followed by mesenchymal stem cells.
Chen, director of Pediatric Hematology Oncology Department of Linkou Chang Gung Hospital, said that umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem cells are one of the three major hematopoietic stem cells, which have the same functions as "bone marrow hematopoietic stem cells" and "peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cells", producing red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets, mainly distributed in umbilical cord and placenta. Mesenchymal stem cells have the characteristics of multi-directional differentiation, and can form interstitial tissues such as blood vessels, endothelium, muscle, fat and connective tissue. Their main function is to form brain nerve cells and musculoskeletal cells, which are distributed in various tissues and organs of the whole body. The purpose of cord blood storage is to store "cord blood hematopoietic stem cells" and "mesenchymal stem cells" for future transplantation or tissue repair. Let's talk about the therapeutic effects of these two stem cells:
Extended reading: hundreds of potential stem cells
Umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem cells can treat 29 diseases. According to the regulations of the Ministry of Health, umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem cells can be used for 29 diseases at present, which is roughly the same as the other two diseases treated by hematopoietic stem cells. These 29 diseases can be divided into "malignant diseases" and "non-malignant diseases" clinically. Malignant diseases are mainly malignant tumors, and non-malignant diseases include autoimmune diseases, immunodeficiency diseases, congenital metabolic defects, hemoglobin and blood dysfunction diseases. Doctors usually choose suitable stem cells from the three hematopoietic stem cells for treatment according to the type of disease (autologous transplantation or allogeneic transplantation), the patient's weight, the treatment cost and the influence on the donor.
Hematopoietic leukemia (except acute lymphoblastic leukemia ALL, acute myeloid leukemia AML, chronic lymphoblastic leukemia CLL and chronic myeloid leukemia CML), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), multiple myeloma (MM) and neuroblastoma.
Severe aplastic anemia (SAA) and paroxysmal nocturnal hematuria (PNH) caused by bone marrow failure.
Congenital diseases include severe compound immune deficiency (SCID), adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), Schroeder-Down syndrome (CHS), congenital pure red cell aplastic anemia (DBA), congenital dyskeratosis (DC), familial erythrocytic lymphohistiocytosis (FHLH), congenital aplastic anemia (FA), and hypercholesterolemia. Kostmann syndrome, Krabbe disease, Langerhans cell histiocytosis, Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, MaroteauxLamy syndrome (mucopolysaccharidosis type VI), metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), bone sclerosis (commonly known as marble baby), myelodysplastic syndrome (SDS), severe marine anemia, Odri syndrome (WAS) and hyperimmunity.
Treatment advantages: easy matching and low rejection rate. The therapeutic advantages of umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem cells are easy matching and low transplantation threshold. Whether it is self-storage or public donation (hereinafter referred to as public donation), it will not affect the provider. Moreover, because it belongs to unactivated primitive cells (not contacting with external antigens), the rejection after transplantation is lower than that of the other two hematopoietic stem cells, and there will be no rejection and side effects if it is used by itself. If a child's siblings have diseases that require hematopoietic stem cell therapy, and the test confirms that human leukocyte antigen (HLA) is consistent, then the cord blood stored by the child is a relatively suitable source for transplantation.
Why can umbilical cord blood stem cells be paired quickly? Yang Guoliang, director of the Bone Marrow Stem Cell Center of Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, analyzed that umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem cells belong to primitive cells, and only 50% of them need to be genetically matched for transplantation, while more than 80% of the other two hematopoietic stem cells need to be genetically matched for transplantation. In addition, umbilical cord blood has ready-made blood bank data that can be quickly searched and compared, which can naturally greatly shorten the matching time.
Three main hematopoietic stem cells were compared with bone marrow hematopoietic stem cells.
Peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cells
Umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem cells
Pairing time
3 ~ 6 months
3 ~ 6 months
1 month
Pairing threshold
High-ranking, higher-ranking, more important
High-ranking, higher-ranking, more important
reduce
Damage to donors
most
Rank second
No harm
Stem cell number
more
more
fewer/ lesser
Acquisition method
General anesthesia, removed from the posterior iliac region of bilateral intestinal bones.
Leukocyte growth hormone was injected twice a day for 3 ~ 5 days, then connected to a blood cell separator to separate and collect peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cells, and 60 ~ 100 blood was drawn every day for 3 days.
After the fetus is born, blood is collected from umbilical vein and put into blood bag. After passing the inspection, put it into an anti-freezing tube/bag and store it in liquid nitrogen.
Note: Umbilical cord blood stem cells have slow immune recovery and relatively high transplantation infection rate due to their small cell size and slow implantation speed.
Consulting/Dr. Yan Xiuru finishing/editorial department
Compared with umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem cells with mature treatment technology, mesenchymal stem cell therapy was approved by the Ministry of Health last September. Treatment projects include autologous adipose-derived stem cell transplantation, autologous fibroblast transplantation and autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation, most of which are still in the clinical trial stage.
The research trend of mesenchymal stem cell therapy is mainly regenerative medicine. In the future, mesenchymal stem cells will be used to treat chronic ischemic stroke, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, hypoxic brain injury, autism, spinal cord injury, myocardial infarction, degenerative arthritis, knee cartilage defect and other neuroskeletal diseases, or repair skin defects or body surface injuries.