Cord blood stem cells: an overview of biology and current applications

In the 80s, cord blood stem cells were used for the first time to treat diseases in humans, and contrary to the opinion of the opponents of using this new cell source, the result was satisfactory, and since then, cord blood has been an important source for cell therapy in humans. Considering the dominant approach to increase the clinical use of umbilical cord blood and the expansion of experimental and research studies in this field, this review article has discussed the current applications and future perspectives while examining the biology of cord blood stem cells.

To conduct this review, the key words “cell bank, umbilical cord blood, Wharton's jelly, stem cell and mesenchymal stem cell” were searched in PubMed and Google scholar databases in the period from 1990 to 2022.

Cord blood cells have significant biological differences compared to other sources (bone marrow and peripheral blood).The absolute number of lymphocytes in cord blood is higher than the peripheral blood and the relative number of natural killer cells in cord blood is higher. Also, cells derived from umbilical cord blood have longer telomeres and more self-renewal capacity than peripheral blood and bone marrow, which makes them very potent.

Conclusions :

This source is of interest not only because of its high immunomodulatory properties in the treatment of inflammatory, autoimmune and systemic diseases, but also because of its anti-inflammatory properties, high differentiation ability and high proliferation capacity, as an ideal option for cell therapy in diseases in addition to hematological disorders. In addition, the preparation, processing, maintenance and storage of cells derived from umbilical cord blood are easy and inexpensive, which is an important point for treatment systems worldwide.