Umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem cells: a new therapeutic alternative?

Abstract

In medicine, the importance of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) is evident fromtheir routine use in the treatment of oncohematologic and immunologic disorders achievedthrough bone marrow transplantation. Nevertheless, due to the diffi culties encountered in fi ndingcompatible bone marrow donors, other options have been sought, for example, the use ofumbilical cord blood (UCB) as a cell source. This work presents a review of pertinent medicalliterature and it analyzes the pros and cons of this therapeutic alternative. Despite the smallvolume obtained and greater time necessary for regeneration of the hematopoietic tissue,UCB presents a high concentration of HSC, lower risk of causing graft versus host diseaseand is easier to obtain, what contributes to its increasing use in the world. New studies on theutlization of UCB in different types of cell and gene therapies will tend to add knowledge tothis fi eld of research.