Scientific evidence

One Million Blood Stem Cell Transplants Worldwide and background to the first Umbilical Cord Blood Transplant
http://www.wbmt.org/fileadmin/pdf/01_General/Press_release_final.pdf

Use of Cord Blood Stem Cells – A Medical Resource
Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) – This blood contains powerful stem cells that have been used to regenerate healthy blood and immune which create blood and immune cells . More than 30,000 cord blood stem cell transplants performed worldwide to date –  Ballen KK, Gluckman E, Broxmeyer HE. Umbilical cord blood transplantation: the first 25 years and beyond. Blood. 2013.

Diseases Treated with Stem Cells – Cancers, Blood, Immune & Metabolic Disorders
Used to treat more than 80 diseases, including various cancers and blood, immune, and metabolic disorders – Brunstein CG, Setubal DC, Wagner JE. Expanding the role of umbilical cord blood transplantation. Br J Haematol. 2007; 137(1):20-35.

Regenerative medicine
Clinical trials are currently evaluating the use of cord blood stem cells as a potential treatment for conditions like cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, and paediatric stroke. Laboratory research suggests promise across a variety of therapeutic areas including Alzheimer’s disease, lung injury, heart disease, and spinal cord injury – www.clinicaltrials.gov

Why red blood cells should be removed before cord blood storage
Very early in the field of cord blood banking, laboratories that process cord blood for storage began removing most of the plasma (plasma depletion) and the red blood cells (RBC depletion) before cryopreserving the remaining component of the blood that holds the stem cells.
Parent’s Guide to Cord Blood November Newsletter 2014

Reviews of the primary literature and primary literature publications discussing pre-clinical research and the potential use of cord tissue in regenerative medicine.

1          Review: Therapeutic-Potentials-of-Mesenchymal-Stem-Cells-Derived-from-Human-Umbilical-Cord: Stem Cell Rev and Rep DOI 10.1007/s12015-010-9168-8

Fat cells, bone cells, cartilage cells, skeletal muscle cells, cardiac cells, endothelial cells, hepatocyte-like cells, islet-like cells, neurons, astrocytes and oligodentrocytes in vitro and in vivo.

2          Review:  Human UC Mesenchymal Stem Cells: A New Era for Stem Cell Therapy: Cell Transplantation,. 24, pp. 339–347, 2015

Cerebral ischemia , Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, retinal disease, Type 1 and type 2 diabetes, myogenic disease.

3          Differentiation of Human Umbilical Cord Matrix Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Neural-Like Progenitor Cells and Maturation into an Oligodendroglial-Like Lineage:

www.plosone.org 1 October 2014, Vol 9, Issue 10, e111059

Neuronal differentiation and potential for future therapeutic use.

4          Re-endothelialisation of Human Heart Valve Neo scaffolds using Umbilical Cord-Derived Endothelial Cells: Circulation Journal, 77, 207-216, 2013

Cardiac vascular repair and potential for future therapeutic use.

5          Improving Viability and Transfection Efficiency with Human Umbilical Cord Wharton’s Jelly Cells through use of a ROCK Inhibitor: Cellular reprogramming, 16, 2, 91-97, 2014

General stem cell therapy and gene therapy for regenerative medicine applications: Endocrine Journal, 60, 3, 347-357, 2013

Trials using cord tissue currently in the ClinicalTrials.gov registry and results database and WHO International Trials Registry Platform

https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT02418325
A Study of Allogeneic Human UC-MSC and Liberation Therapy (When Associated With CCSVI) in Patients with RRMS

https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT02237846
Clinical Study of Umbilical Cord Tissue Mesenchymal Stem Cells (UC-MSC) for Treatment of Osteoarthritis

https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT02237547
Safety and Feasibility Study of Cell Therapy in Treatment of Spinal Cord Injury

http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT02034188
Feasibility Study of Human Umbilical Cord Tissue-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis

https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01985464
Umbilical Cord Tissue-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Rheumatoid Arthritis

https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT02568956
Safety and Exploratory Efficacy Study of UCMSCs in Patients With Ischemic Heart Disease (SEESUPIHD)

https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT02481440
Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells Transplantation to Patients With Spinal Cord Injury

http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT02302599
Mesenchymal Stem Cells to Treat Type II Diabetes (UC-MSCs)

http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT02291926
Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation in Articular Cartilage Defect

Wharton’s Jelly : potential in regenerative medicine

1          New Frontiers in Regenerative Medicine in Cardiology: The Potential of Wharton’s Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Current Stem Cell Research & Therapy, , 8, 39-45, 2013

Potential for cardiac therapeutics

2          Mesenchymal Stem Cells in the Wharton’s Jelly of the Human Umbilical Cord: Stem Cells; 22:1330–1337, 2004

Multi-lineage potential of MSCs from Wharton’s jelly

3          Mesenchymal Stem Cells Derived from Wharton’s Jelly of the Umbilical Cord: Biological Properties and Emerging Clinical Applications: Current Stem Cell Research & Therapy, 2013, 8, 144-155

Potential application for the treatment of cancer and immune mediated disorders, graft versus host disease  and systemic lupus erythematosus and possible application in supporting haematopoietic stem cell expansion.

4          Wharton’s Jelly-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Phenotypic Characterization and Optimizing their Therapeutic Potential for Clinical Applications: Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2013, 14, 11692-11712; doi:10.3390/ijms140611692

Potential advantages as transplantable cells for treatment of various diseases (e.g., cancer, chronic liver disease, cardiovascular diseases, nerve, cartilage and tendon injury). Further studies required to translate research into the clinical setting.

5          Long term effects of the implantation of Wharton’s jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells from the umbilical cord for newly-onset type 1 diabetes mellitus: Endocr J. 60(3):347-57, 2013;

Diabetes – research and potential for future therapeutic use.

Cerebral Palsy
http://www.cellmedicine.com/stem-cell-therapy-for-cerebral-palsy/
Mesenchymal stem cells are taken from the umbilical cord and are extremely useful as they are not immediately recognized as foreign by the body. The cells secrete molecules called trophic factors and these molecules are known to encourage repair of damaged tissue in both the brain and spinal cord.
Stem Cell Treatments for Cerebral Palsy  –  Mary Washington’s Story  – http://www.cellmedicine.com/stem-cell-therapy/patient-stories/cerebral-palsy-patient-stories/

Clinical Trial – Safety and Effectiveness of Cord Blood Stem Cell Infusion for the Treatment of Cerebral Palsy in Children
The purpose of this study is to test the safety and effectiveness of a cord blood infusion in children who have motor disability due to cerebral palsy (CP). The subjects will be children whose parents have saved their infant’s cord blood, who have non-progressive motor disability, and whose parents intend to have a cord blood infusion.
Responsible Party: James E. Carroll, Professor and Chief, Child Neurology, Georgia Regents University
Georgia Regents University   (NCT01072370)
http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01072370

Bone Formation
Over 60,000 hip, 50,000 wrist and 120,000 vertebral fractures occur each year in the UK. Fractures in bones usually take around 3-6 months to go back to normality. The inability to repair normally occurs in 1% of all fractures.

Treatment of Non Union of Long Bone Fractures by Autologous Mesenchymal Stem Cell
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01206179?.term=Treatment+of+Non+Union+of+Long+Bone+Fractures+by+Autologous+Mesenchymal+Stem+Cell&rank=1
The definition of nonunion is a failure of the fracture to heal within six months in a patient it is a serious complication, occurring in 2-10% of patients. The purpose of this study is to find if mesenchymal stem cells can stimulate bone regeneration in nonunion and delayed union fractures to reduce later surgeries required to augment the healing process and to accelerate the time to healing.
Royal Institute   (NCT01206179)

Lupus
Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00278590

Sickle Cell
Cord Blood Transplantation for Sickle Cell Anemia and Thalassemia
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00029380

Autism
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/sci/2013/262438/
Perspectives on the Use of Stem Cells for Autism Treatment
Dario Siniscalco,1,2,3 James Jeffrey Bradstreet,4 Nataliia Sych,5 and Nicola Antonucci6
1Department of Experimental Medicine, Second University of Naples, Via S. Maria di Costantinopoli, 16-80138 Napoli, Italy
2Centre for Autism, La Forza del Silenzio, 81036 Caserta, Italy
3Cancellautismo, 50132 Florence, Italy
4International Child Development Resource Center, Chateau Élan, Braselton, GA 30517, USA
5Clinical Department, Cell Therapy Center EmCell, Kiev 04073, Ukraine
6Biomedical Centre for Autism Research and Treatment, 70126 Bari, Italy
Received 10 May 2013; Revised 22 August 2013; Accepted 6 September 2013
Academic Editor: Chen Lin
Copyright © 2013 Dario Siniscalco et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Safety and Efficacy of Stem Cell Therapy in Patients with Autism
http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01343511

Transplantation of human cord blood mononuclear cells and umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells in autism
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3765833/

Allogeneic Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy for Autism
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT02192749
Allogeneic (not from the subject) human umbilical cord tissue-derived stem cells administered intravenously (IV) in a series of 4 infusions every 3 months over the course of one year is safe and will induce a therapeutic effect in autism patients.

Type 1 Diabetes
http://www.chictr.org/en/proj/show.aspx?proj=419.

Type 2 Diabetes
http://www.chictr.org/en/proj/show.aspx?proj=420

Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell transplantation for treatment of type2 diabetes
A preliminary evaluation of efficacy and safety of Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cell transplantation in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
http://stemcellres.com/content/5/2/57

Efficacy of Umbilical cord Mesenchymal stem cells transplantation in the treatment of brainstem disease patients
http://www.chictr.org/en/proj/show.aspx?proj=1474

Efficacy of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell transplantation in the treatment of cirrhosis patients
http://www.chictr.org/en/proj/show.aspx?proj=1516

Efficacy of Umbilical cord Mesenchymal stem cells transplantation in the treatment of brain trauma sequela patients
http://www.chictr.org/en/proj/show.aspx?proj=1407

The safety and efficacy of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell transplantation through femoral artery interventional procedure in spinal cord injury patients
http://www.chictr.org/en/proj/show.aspx?proj=2636

Comparative analysis on the curative effect between umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell transplantation and anti-diabetic treatment
http://www.chictr.org/en/proj/show.aspx?proj=4054

Safety and efficacy study of Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells transplantation for treatment of Parkinson’s disease
http://www.chictr.org/en/proj/show.aspx?proj=3939

Comparing of effect of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell therapy on motor function of twin cerebral palsy
http://www.chictr.org/en/proj/show.aspx?proj=3377

Umbilical cord blood (umbilical cord mesenchymal ) stem cell in patients with end stage liver diseases
http://www.chictr.org/en/proj/show.aspx?proj=5243