Ex vivo expansion of cord blood and bone marrow stem cells

Patients with blood cancers can usually be treated by receiving a bone marrow transplant from another person. Usually this person has to be a blood relation or have a compatible tissue type to ensure the transplant is not rejected. However, finding such a match is not always simple. For some years now, women have been donating the blood found in the umblilical cord after given birth to their babies. This blood is full of stem cells which are capable of reconstituting the entire immune system of the recipient, furthermore complete matching is not required, so cord blood cells can be used to treat many more patients. Unfortunately the number of cells in each cord blood unit is limited and too small to treat most adults. We have already developed media formulations which in preliminary in vitro studies allow the blood stem/progenitor cells in the cord blood units to be expanded by at least 30-100 fold. With this project we are seeking initially to develop a clinically compliant process to expand cord blood cells ex vivo prior to transplantation so that more patients can be treated with this live saving therapy.