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According to a session chaired by Dr. Charbel Khalil at Arab Health 2023, umbilical cord stem cell banking could provide treatment for a wide range of diseases.
“Umbilical cord stem cells are currently used to treat many life-threatening diseases, including cancer, blood disorders, immune disorders and metabolic diseases. One of the most interesting aspects of stem cells is that they can be rejuvenated. We have stem cells everywhere in our body, in every tissue, said Khalil, Director of Cell Therapy at the Center for Research and Application of Reviva’s Stem Cell Platform and Middle East University Hospital for Health (MEIH).
“The most efficient way to capture stem cells is from the umbilical cord of a newborn,” he said.
complicated procedure
“Treating a patient with bone marrow can be a very complicated process. There are only 0.1% stem cells in the bone marrow, and during this process we have to mobilize the stem cells and stimulate them into the peripheral blood. Cryopreservation and high-dose chemotherapy follow, after which the cells are thawed And infusion. Capturing stem cells at birth through the umbilical cord offers a very effective alternative,” he explained.
Cord blood transplantation is a procedure discovered in the 1960s, and the first successful cord blood transplant was performed in France in 1988, when a 5-year-old boy was cured of Fanconi anemia using stem cells from his sister’s umbilical cord. In 2012, Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent”, further cementing regenerative medicine as a groundbreaking science.
Cord blood is a living source of three types of stem cells – hematopoietic stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells and epithelial progenitor stem cells. Combined, these stem cells can develop into all types of blood cells, including white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets, and make and repair bone tissue.
Painless and non-invasive
The process of capturing stem cells from the umbilical cord is painless and non-invasive. Cells are performed immediately after birth and are processed by the laboratory team during the critical 12-hour period to ensure maximum cell counts are maintained. Once captured, current evidence suggests that umbilical cord stem cells can last for at least 25 years, but it turns out that could be much longer. These stem cells can be made available to the original donor, their relatives or even the wider community if needed in the future.
Through the Cord Blood Network, more than 43,000 transplants worldwide have given patients a second chance at life. Clinical trials are currently exploring the use of umbilical cord stem cells to treat 120 conditions, and there have been some exciting recent developments in their use to treat neurological disorders, eye disorders and infertility.
Arab Health, the Middle East’s largest healthcare exhibition and conference, will close today (2 February) at the Dubai World Trade Centre. — trade arab news agency
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