Should I store mesenchymal stem cells of the Wharton’s jelly for family use or should I donate the blood of the umbilical cord of my child? Has this action any scientific base?
No, the contrary
would maybe have some meaning. The stem
cells from the blood of the umbilical cord are a valuable and irreplaceable
material that are in use the last 20years and will be used in the future,
completely genetically compatible with the child and with a great probability
of being compatible also for other members of the family. The mesnchymal stem cells from the Wharton’s jelly are used
today only experimentally. Given the fact that all the cells our body have the same genetic material if there is a
genetic disease both types of cells will be diseased. These two types of stem cells
are in quality the same ( healthy or diseased), they differ only in their uses.
- If somebody claim, the blood of the umbilical
cord of your baby can not be used for the treatment of leukemia because
his hematopoetic stem cells are
diseased ( why donate them?), then for the same reason the
mesenchymal cells from the Wharton’s jelly can’t be used neither by your child nor
from anyone else, because they have the same origin with the hematopoetic
stem cells and will be diseased for the same reason. The scientific truth however is that
when a child is diseased, it is not necessary that his stem cells also are
diseased. This can be proved only with specific tests that can reveal the
predisposition to leukemia.
- Today it not known how many mesenchymal cells are
needed for therapeutic applications. In most cases it is related to the
weight of the patient. Because we
can not define the weight of the patient the time that he will present the
disease, it is good to cryopresrve the largest possible number of stem
cells from the beginning.
Pay attention that the freezing of the whole part of the umbilical cord without prior process and separation of the cells, does not lead to the separation of the cells after post-thaw. By this way only the surface cells are preserved, while those that are in deeper layers die and their collection and administration to the patient is not possible. Therefore the freezing of the whole part of the umbilical cord is not a preferred way to store stem cells. The only available and safe method today for mesenchymal stem cells cryopreservetion from the umbilical cord is to cryopreserve.cells after separation and never tissue.