Multipotent Stem Cells from Umbilical Cord: Cord is Richer than Blood!

¹ Human Genome Research Center, Department of Genetic and Evolutive Biology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
² Department of Neurology and Neurocirurgy, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
³ Laboratory of Genetic, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, USA

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mayazatz{at}usp.br.

	Abstract

The identification of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) sources that are easily obtainable is of utmost importance. Several studies showed that MSCs could be isolated from umbilical cord (UC) units. However, the presence of MSCs in UC blood (UCB) is controversial. A possible explanation for the low efficiency of MSCs from UCB is the use of different culture conditions by independent studies. Here, we compared the efficiency in obtaining MSCs from unrelated paired UCB and UC samples harvested from the same donors. Samples were processed simultaneously, under the same culture conditions. Although MSCs from blood were obtained from only one among the 10 samples, we were able to isolate large amounts of multipotent MSCs from all UC samples, which were able to originate different cell lineages. Since the routine procedure in UC banks has been to store the blood and discard other tissues, such as the cord and/or placenta, we believe our results are of immediately clinical value. Furthermore, the possibility of originating different cell lines from neonates UC born with genetic defects may provide new cellular research models for understanding human malformations and genetic disorders as well as the possibility of testing the effects of different therapeutic drugs.