ScienceDaily: Umbilical Cord Blood As A Readily Available Source For Off-the-shelf, Patient-specific Stem Cells

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Umbilical Cord Blood As A Readily Available Source For Off-the-shelf, Patient-specific Stem Cells

ScienceDaily (Oct. 2, 2009) — Human umbilical cord blood cells may be far more versatile than previous research has indicated. Scientists report that they have successfully reprogrammed human umbilical cord blood cells into cells with properties similar to human embryonic stem cells. The results are significant as they identify cord blood as a convenient source for generating cells with a theoretically limitless potential.

Umbilical cord blood cells can successfully be reprogrammed to function like embryonic stem cells, setting the basis for the creation of a comprehensive bank of tissue-matched, cord blood-derived induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells for off-the-shelf applications, report researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the Center for Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona, Spain. "Cord blood stem cells could serve as a safe, "ready-to-use" source for the generation of iPS cells, since they are easily accessible, immunologically immature and quick to return to an embryonic stem cell-like state," says Juan-Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte, Ph.D., a professor in the Salk's Gene Expression Laboratory, who led the study published in the October issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell.

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