Rodica Ciubotariu

Isolation and characterization of mesenchymal stem cells from human umbilical cord blood: Reevaluation of critical factors for successful isolation and high ability to proliferate and differentiate to chondrocytes as compared to mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow and adipose tissue

Human umbilical cord blood (CB) is a potential source for mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) capable of forming specific tissues, for example, bone, cartilage, or muscle. However, difficulty isolating MSC from CB (CB‐MSC) has impeded their clinical application. Using more than 450 CB units donated to two public CB banks, we found that successful cell recovery fits a hyper‐exponential function of time since birth with very high fidelity. Additionally, significant improvement in the isolation of CB‐MSC was achieved by selecting cord blood units having a volume ≥90 ml and time ≤2 h after donors birth. This resulted in 90% success in isolation of CB‐MSC by density gradient purification and without a requirement for immunoaffinity methods as previously reported. Using MSC isolated from bone marrow (BM‐MSC) and adipose tissue (AT‐MSC) as reference controls, we observed that CB‐MSC exhibited a higher proliferation rate and expanded to the order of the 1 × 109 cells required for cell therapies. CB‐MSC showed karyotype stability after prolonged expansion. Functionally, CB‐MSC could be more readily induced to differentiate into chondrocytes than could BM‐MSC and AT‐MSC. CB‐MSC showed immunosuppressive activity equal to that of BM‐MSC and AT‐MSC. Collectively, our data indicate that viable CB‐MSC could be obtained consistently and that CB should be reconsidered as a practical source of MSC for cell therapy and regenerative medicine using the well established CB banking system. J. Cell. Biochem. 112: 1206–1218, 2011.

Umbilical cord blood collection: do patients really understand?

Abstract Background: Pregnant patients have the option of storing their infants cord blood with a private/commercial company for possible future use by the child or other family members. Some patients also have the option to donate the cord blood to a public bank for anyone to use. We evaluated patient understanding about cord blood banking in a cohort of patients with access to both options. Methods: Anonymous questionnaires were collected from 325 pregnant patients seen in our Antepartum Testing Unit. Results: Compared to those donating to a public bank, women planning on storing with a private/commercial company were less likely to believe that a suitable donor could be found from a public cord blood bank. Women had a strikingly poor understanding regarding the current uses for cord blood therapy. When asked whether cord blood has been used successfully to treat Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, and spinal cord injury only 28%, 24%, and 24%, respectively, correctly knew that it had not. Conclusions: Obstetricians should assume that pregnant women are poorly informed about cord blood banking. The decision making process should be conducted with the goal of ensuring every pregnant woman the opportunity to make a well informed decision about cord blood banking.

Cytomegalovirus viral load in cord blood and impact of congenital infection on markers of hematopoietic progenitor cell potency

The low incidence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in neonates decreases the risk of viral transmission with cord blood transplantation. Cord blood donors are screened by testing the maternal sample for total antibodies to CMV. Some cord blood banks also screen cord blood for CMV‐DNA. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a multiplex real‐time polymerase chain reaction assay to measure CMV viral load in cord blood from asymptomatic infants with congenital CMV infection and to assess the impact of CMV infection on cord blood hematopoietic progenitor cell concentrations and colony‐forming unit functionality.