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Why Bank my Cord Tissue Stem Cells?


More cells means improved engraftment

Researchers in a preclinical study discovered that combining the stem cells from cord tissue with stem cells from cord blood results in improved engraftment – up to a 6-fold increase over cord blood alone.2† Engraftment, the process of transplanted cells growing and making new cells, is an important predictor of a successful transplant. 3

The research findings suggest that with a greater number and wider variety of stem cells provided by the combination of newborn stem cells from cord blood and cord tissue, patients may significantly increase their chance for a successful transplant.*


Better Transplant Results 2†

 

 

Greater possibility of treatment options

Cord tissue provides an abundant source of Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs). These tissue-derived stem cells have “regenerating” properties and provide more potential to treat additional diseases like Parkinson’s, stroke, & type 1 diabetes.4 We have much to learn about the potential value of MSCs. However, early research - using MSCs extracted from cord tissue - indicates that this unique stem cell group offers great potential in treating diseases and disorders that affect cartilage, muscle, and nerve cells because of their special ability to more easily regenerate into other cells.

By storing the stem cells extracted from your umbilical cord tissue along with your baby’s cord blood, you’ll have access to a wider variety of stem cells as new scientific discoveries are made.

More Treatable Diseases4
AREAS OF RESEARCH FOR CORD TISSUE STEM CELLS

Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) are the next generation of discovery in stem cell research.
Visit our research section to read more about these pre-clinical studies using MSCs extracted from cord tissue. 
 


Youth has its advantages

Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) can be found in other adult sources like skin and fat tissue, but there is at least one distinct and important difference between the MSCs found in cord tissue and the MSCs found in other adult sources—experience. And in this case, more experience isn’t necessarily better. Just like cord blood stem cells, cord tissue stem cells are immunologically naïve. This means they don’t have as much life experience with illness or disease and are more amenable to environmental change.5 And, if used in transplant, they are less likely to recognize the new host as foreign. Simply put, because of their youth MSC cells found in umbilical cord tissue are more capable of adaptation than stem cells found from other adult sources, like skin or fat.

Benefits ViaCord's Cord Blood + Cord Tissue
Stem Cells
ViaCord's Cord Blood Stem Cells
Unique Source of Stems Cells YES YES
Enriched Mesenchymal Stems Cells YES NO
Strong Engraftment YES YES
Improved Engraftment2 YES NO
80 Diseases + Regenerative Medicine (Cerebral Palsy, Type 1 Diabetes) YES YES
Additional Disorders, including Parkinson's/Sports Injuries4 YES NO
Immunologically Naïve source of stem cells5 YES YES

 

References:

2. Taghizadeh RR, Pollok Ke, Betancur M, et al. Wharton’s jelly derived mesenchymal stem cells: regenerative medicine beyond umbilical cord blood. Presented at: The First Meeting of the Placenta Stem Cell Society (IPLASS). From Fetomaternal Tolerance to Immuno modulary Properties of Placenta-Derived Cells in Cell Therapy [poster abstract]; October 3–6, 2010; Brescra, Italy.
As measured by CD45+.

3.  Laughlin MJ, Barker J, Bambach B, et al. Hematopoietic engraftment and survival in adult recipients of umbilical-cord blood from unrelated donors. N Engl J Med. 2001;344(24):1815–1822.

4.  Various studies using mesenchymal stem cells extracted from umbilical cord tissue;

    1. Fu YS, ChenAg YC, Lin MY, et al. Conversion of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells in Wharton’s jelly to dopaminergic neurons in vitro: potential therapeutic application for Parkinsonism. Stem Cells. 2006;24(1):115–124. Epub 2005 Aug 11.
    2. OrthoSuperSite. Umbilical cord stem cells may treat RA. Accessed December 15, 2010.
    3. Ding DC, Shyu WC, Chiang MF, et al. Enhancement of neuroplasticity through upregulation of b1-integrin in human umbilical cord-derived stromal cell implanted stroke model. Neurobiol Dis. 2007 Sep;27(3):339–353. Epub 2007 Jun 18.
    4. Anzalone R, Lo Iacono M, Loria T, et al. Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cells as candidates for beta cells regeneration: extending the differentiative and immunomodulatory benefits of adult mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of type 1 diabetes. Stem Cell Rev. 2010 Oct 23. [Epub ahead of print.]
    5. Tsai PC, Fu TW, Chen YM, et al. The therapeutic potential of human umbilical mesenchymal stem cells from Wharton’s jelly in the treatment of rat liver fibrosis. Liver Transpl. 2009;15(5):484–495.
    6. Maurya DK, Doi C, Kawabata A, et al. Therapy with un-engineered naïve rat umbilical cord matrix stem cells markedly inhibits growth of murine lung adenocarcinoma. BMC Cancer. 2010;10:590.
    7. Wang L, Tran I, Seshareddy K, et al. A comparison of human bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells and human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells for cartilage tissue engineering.Tissue Eng Part A. 2009 Aug;15(8):2259–2266.

5.    Troyer DL, Weiss ML. Concise Review: Wharton’s jelly-derived

cells are a primitive stromal cell population. Stem Cells. 2008;26:591-599.

*IMPORTANT NOTE: All research using cord tissue stem cells is in pre-clinical studies. Medical treatments using family banked cord tissue stem cells are not available today; there is no guarantee that therapies will be developed in the future.

 
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