BOLAND CELL CORD BLOOD CELLS

The biotechnological aspects of cord-blood stem cells are reviewed in this section, because the application is theoretical, costly and highly controversial. There have been no human trials to show the efficacy of this treatment strategy. There is potential, but the medical profession and investors remain sceptical at the present time regarding the application, and what expected clinical outcomes can be anticipated. At the time of writing there is no clinical application or proof for the usage of human derived cord-blood stem cells. In South Africa, there are three companies offering storage of cord-blood. There has been speculation as to the potential for treatment of hemopoietic diseases. But there is no proof that cord-blood stem cells will be better than conventional allogeneic bone-marrow transplantation. Some experts refer to the application as “tomorrow or never.” Publicity of human cord-blood stem cells have played on the emotions of the public. The Achilles heel is that the technology is not available to differentiate the stem cells precisely into functional cells for the treatment of heart disease, diabetes mellitus, peripheral vascular disease, blood cancer. For the moment, all that is available is unfractionated cell storage (except for a few laboratories) at high cost. A total investment or “insurance policy” would be in the range of R50,000 over 10 years. The reversal of hyperglycaemia of diabetes mellitus, for the moment, by expanded embryonic stem cells remains to be demonstrated, and can only be viewed as theoretical.
Liver cells can be differentiated from cord blood stem cells now and may be a possible and important industry for drug testing. There is no possibility of growing an anatomical human liver for the next 20-years.