|
New ways to use stem cells, such as those found in cord blood, are discovered every day. The future of stem cell use is limitless, and because there is no “expiration date” for stored cord blood, your child and other relatives could benefit from banked stem cells years down the road. Stem cells can be used to treat the following diseases:
 Cancers
- Acute myelogenous leukemia
- Acute lymphoblastic leukemia
- Acute biphenotypic leukemia
- Acute undifferentiated leukemia
- Burkitt’s lymphoma
- Chronic myelogenous leukemia
- Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
- Juvenile chronic myelogenous leukemia
- Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia
- Liposarcoma
- Neuroblastoma
- Hodgkin's disease
- Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
- Retinoblastoma
- Multiple myeloma
- Plasma cell leukemia
- Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia
- Ewing’s sarcoma
- Renal cell carcinoma
Myelodysplastic syndromes
- Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia
- Refractory anemia
- Refractory anemia with excess blasts
- Refractory anemia with excess blasts in transformation
- Refractory anemia with ringed sideroblasts
Myeloproliferative disorders
- Acute myelofibrosis
- Agnogenic myeloid metaplasia (myelofibrosis)
- Polycythemia vera
- Essential thrombocythemia
Marrow failure syndromes
- Aplastic anemia
- Blackfan-Diamond anemia
- Dyskeratosis congenita
- Fanconi anemia
- Amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia
- Kostmann’s syndrome
- Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria
- Pure red cell aplasia
Blood disorders
- Sickle cell anemia
- Beta-thalassemia (Cooley’s anemia)
Inherited platelet abnormalities
- Amegakaryocytosis/congenital thrombocytopenia
- Glanzmann thrombasthenia
Histiocytic disorders
- Familial erythrophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis
- Histiocytosis-X
- Hemophagocytosis
Inherited metabolic disorders
- Adrenoleukodystrophy
- Metachromatic leukodystrophy
- Batten disease (inherited neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis)
- Mucopolysaccaridoses (MPS)
- Hurler’s syndrome (MPS-IH)
- Scheie syndrome (MPS-IS)
- Hunter’s syndrome (MPS-II)
- Sanfilippo syndrome (MPS-III)
- Morquio syndrome (MPS-IV)
- Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome (MPS-VI)
- Sly syndrome, beta-glucuronidase deficiency (MPS-VII)
- Mucolipidosis II (I-cell disease)
- Krabbe disease
- Gaucher’s disease
- Niemann-Pick disease
- Sandhoff disease
- Tay-Sachs disease
- Wolman disease
- Lesch-Nyhan disease
Immune deficiencies
- Ataxia telangiectasia
- Chronic granulomatous disease
- Omenn’s syndrome
- Severe combined immune deficiency (SCID, all sub-types)
- Reticular dysgenesis
- Thymic dysplasia
- Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome
- X-linked lymphoproliferative disease
- Leukocyte adhesion deficiency
- Chediak-Higashi syndrome
- Adenosine deaminase deficiency
- Purine nucleotide phosphorylase deficiency
- DiGeorge syndrome
- Common variable immunodeficiency
- Neutrophil actin deficiency
Other diseases
- Evans syndrome
- Cartilage-Hair hypoplasia
- Amyloidosis
- Gunther disease
- Langerhans cell histiocytosis
- Osteoporosis
The future is endless
Imagine a future where cord blood stem cells treat virtually every disease known to man by growing new cells, tissues and organs. Promising research in the field of regenerative medicine hopes to make that future a reality. Researchers are also looking into ways to multiply the number of stem cells available in each sample, which will enable multiple treatments and even donation to others.
- Cardiac repair
- Central nervous system diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson disease, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and multiple sclerosis
- Diabetes
- Spinal cord injury
- Lupus
- Muscle damage
- Neuromuscular diseases such as muscular dystrophy
- Stroke
- Brain damage
- Liver injury and liver disease
- Gastrointestinal disorders
Sources: Cord Blood: Biology, Immunology, Banking, and Clinical Transplantation, AABB Press; Cord Blood: Establishing a National Hematopoietic Stem Cell Bank Program, The National Academies Press; www.clinicaltrials.gov; the International Cord Blood Society (www.cordblood.org).
| 
