Umbilical Cord Blood Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cell Expansion for Therapeutic Use

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a potentially curative therapy for severe hematological malignancies and other severe disorders of the blood, immune system, and bone marrow. It is the most successful regenerative therapy to date, with 2013 marking the one millionth HSCT and the 25th anniversary of the first umbilical cord blood (UCB) HSCT. UCB has most often been used for allogeneic HSCT when a matched bone marrow or peripheral blood donor is unavailable. Recently, novel genome editing technologies to correct inherited gene disorders or to modulate biomarkers/receptors on HSC and the potential use of HSCT for a variety of other nonmalignant conditions have led to a surge of interest in autologous HSCT, with the HSC source depending on the condition to be treated. UCB HSCs may be used to generate red blood cells, granulocytes, or platelets ex vivo for transfusion into difficult-to-transfuse patients. Alternatively, UCB may be reprogrammed to induced pluripotent stem cells or used to generate cell lines, which can then be differentiated into different cell lineages for transfusion or used as diagnostic reagents. Disadvantages of UCB are its restricted cell numbers and delayed hematological engraftment. Here, UCB HSC expansion/manipulation ex vivo and clinical applications are addressed