Collecting, Processing, Banking, and Using Cord Blood Stem Cells for Regenerative Medicine

It is estimated that almost one in three individuals in the United States might benefit from regenerative medicine. Embryonic stem (ES) cell therapies have been most often touted as the optimal stem cell source for such applications due to their ability to become any tissue in the body that might need therapy. Unfortunately, ES cell applications are currently limited by ethical, political, biologic, and regulatory hurdles. Thus, for the foreseeable future, translation of regenerative medicine to the clinic will depend upon the development of non–ES cell therapies. Over the last decade the collection and banking of cord blood has become the focus of many medical centers in the United States, as cord blood provides a virtually unlimited source of ethnically diverse stem cell donors for a variety of clinical transplant applications. In addition, the recent use of cord blood in regenerative medicine clinical trials has demonstrated therapeutic flexibility of cord blood and has further spurred the collection and banking of these stem cells. This chapter reviews the latest developments in cord blood collection, processing, and banking, as well as the recent use of cord blood stem cells in transplant and regenerative medicine.