Cord Blood Stem Cells - Diabetes

- Writer/Editor for Disabled World (DW)
Published: 2009/01/11
Topic: Regenerative Medicine - Publications List

Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main

Synopsis: Stem cell breakthroughs in cord blood stem cell research can substantially speed up the development of treatments for life threatening diseases and debilitating conditions.

Introduction

Stem cell technology has been advancing forward in leaps and bounds. The breakthroughs in cord blood stem cell research can substantially speed up the development of treatments for life-threatening diseases and debilitating conditions.

Main Item

Cord blood, also called placental blood, is the blood that remains in the placenta and umbilical cord following birth, after the umbilical cord is cut.

Generally, this blood is disposed of with the placenta and umbilical cord. There is much controversy regarding the use of stem cell research as it pertains to the use of embryos. However, there have been new scientific breakthroughs in the field of stem cell research using cord blood stem cells from living babies.

A team of South Korean researchers, headed by Prof. Kang Kyung-sun of Seoul National University, has successfully grown pancreatic beta cells from umbilical cord blood stem cells of newborn babies. The stem cells are able to secrete insulin, the hormone necessary for treatment of diabetes.

The ability of cord blood stem cells to differentiate, or change into other types of cells in the body is a new discovery that holds great promise for improving the treatment of some of the most common diseases including diabetes. This achievement would be highlighted by The Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, the U.S.-based weekly, that documents breakthrough papers in biotechnology.

Similar breakthroughs have been achieved by scientists throughout the world.

Researchers at the University of Newcastle, in Dublin, produced a 'mini liver' from cord blood stem cells. The technique will be developed to create a full-sized, fully functioning liver. Tissues from mini-livers will be used to test new drugs. Researchers are hopeful that within five years, pieces of the tissue can be used to repair damaged livers and within 15 years, actual liver transplants may be done using lab-grown livers made from cord blood. This is a significant achievement that can potentially develop treatments for liver diseases.

In a study published by the University of Minnesota, researchers discovered that some umbilical cord blood cells possess similar characteristics to primitive stem cells.

According to Walter Low, Ph.D., senior investigator of the study and professor of Neurosurgery and the Stem Cell Institute at the University of Minnesota, this major discovery is crucial to understanding how cord blood stem cells can restore brain function after injury such as in stroke. In a laboratory test, cord blood stem cells were transplanted into rodents with controlled strokes. The results: some limb function was restored and the size of brain lesions was reduced. Cord blood stem cells developed into neuron-type cells, similar to those found in the brain. They also stimulated nerve fibers in the brain, thus the regained function in rats. This finding will significantly help advance the development of stroke research.

Stem cell technology has been advancing forward in leaps and bounds. The breakthroughs in cord blood stem cell research can substantially speed up the development of treatments for life-threatening diseases and debilitating conditions. Cord blood stem cell research avoids much of the controversy and problems associated with embryonic stem cell research.

Stem cells use in the future

The future use of stem cells is obviously a difficult question to answer. There is no doubt from the levels of research funding driving stem cell research that this is a fast growing and potentially widespread branch of therapeutic medicine.

Ideally a properly funded national stem cell depository would allow unfettered access for parents to a stem cell transplant if needed now or in the future. Unfortunately parents come to us because that is not an option for them: there are no widespread facilities to donate samples that would be stored by stem cells storage experts.

Some of the potential therapies of stem cells would require amplification of samples (technically possible now), raising the possibility of multiple uses within a family unit. There is now so much research being undertaken and reported we frequently find ourselves contradicting patients that it is not a panacea and that much of the research has many years before therapies arise from the work.

Areas which are rapidly gathering scientific credibility as therapies of the future that would involve stem cell collection and storage include organ engineering and repair and neurological damage repair, as well as Diabetes.

Its widespread use for certain malignancies is currently not recommended. However, there is every possibility that this scenario will change.

We feel that cord blood stem cell storage will have a growing therapeutic role in the short future. We feel strongly that private cord blood storage should be offered with full counseling of the risks, limitations and benefits as part of an informed consent process, but also that women are entitled to have access to information to allow them to make this decision based on unbiased factual information about stem cells and cord blood collection.

Cord blood stem cell transplant is becoming increasingly important for treatment of life-threatening diseases and debilitating conditions. Umbilical cord blood stem cells are less prone to rejection than bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells.

Explore Similar Topics

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Citing Information and Page References

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Cite This Page (APA): Langtree, I. C. (2009, January 11). Cord Blood Stem Cells - Diabetes. Disabled World (DW). Retrieved February 9, 2025 from www.disabled-world.com/news/research/stemcells/diabetes-cord-blood.php

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