Seyed Hadi Mousavi who was speaking in a meeting organized by Kurdistan provincial Islamic Development Organization office in Sanandaj to honor the blood donors in the public, said that stem cells had two distinct properties of proliferation and differentiation; “different types of stem cells are hematopoietic stem cells of embryo and umbilical cord; the sources of mesenchymal stem cells are bone marrow, peripheral and umbilical cord blood, which is collectable immediately postnatal,” he said, “the more umbilical cord blood is collected, the more stem cells we will have,” he added.
Mousavi also pointed to advantages of umbilical cord blood; “reduced chance of transplant-related inflammatory diseases in the host, high possibility of transplant with lower human leukocyte antigen (HLA) similarity between donor and the host, reduced viral contamination, and ease of access to more blood units in blood banks,” accounted the Royan Institute senior researcher.
“Collection of umbilical cord blood is easy and poses no threat to mother and the newborn; however, the blood from umbilical cord suffered disadvantages as well; the volume of blood is relatively low; the risk is on the place that genetic diseases are inherited, and the blood itself is only used for once and forever,” Mousavi said, adding that despite these disadvantages, so far “about 30,000 umbilical cord blood transplant operations have been carried out worldwide.”
“About 80 diseases have the capability of being treated by umbilical cord blood, which includes leukemia and other blood diseases; according to a global standard, umbilical cord blood would be restored up to 20 years thanks to the technology providing the technical know-how of restoring and using the blood,” he asserted. “The most optimum transplant operation would be possible using blood collected for 5 years,” Mousavi said.
SH
MNA
END
2453255