ESTABLISHED FOR DECADES

In 1988 it was conclusively proven that cord blood could be used to replace defective human bone marrow.(2) Since then these haematopoietic (blood) stem cells (HSC) have become established therapies in several blood diseases, such as leukaemias (cancer of the blood), anaemias (lack of haemoglobin) and some autoimmune diseases (where the body attacks its own cells). By the twentieth anniversary of this success, an estimated 15,000 people have been treated using cord blood transplants.

The future is bright

The amazing speed of research and clinical trials using umbilical cord blood has led to diseases being treated that no one could have predicted.

Trials in metabolic brain disease (Hurler's, Krabbe's and Turner's diseases), cerebral palsy and type I diabetes (also known as juvenile diabetes), have joined the blood diseases in successful therapies.

Furthermore, many of these new treatments are using the patient’s own cord blood.(6),(7),(8)

New, exciting scientific discoveries have shown that in the laboratory, umbilical cord blood cells can even be developed into liver, renal, neural, heart muscle and insulin producing cells.

This finding potentially opens the door for those cells to be used in regenerative medicine.