What are the advantages of using cord blood stem cells as opposed to stem cells collected from either the bone marrow or circulating blood?
Tissue type is determined by a set of genes that make proteins called human leukocyte antigens (HLAs), which are found on the surfaces of all body cells (except red blood cells). The immune system recognises cells carrying the HLA proteins it has encountered since birth as normal, or belonging to the particular individual or “self”. Any other HLA proteins are regarded as “non-self”, or foreign and cells carrying them are quickly killed. There are six major HLA genes. Every person has two of each, one from each parent. For bone marrow transplants, doctors aim to match the six alleles that are most clinically relevant in transplantation. But cord blood stem cells are immunologically immature and can tolerate an element of mismatch, allowing doctors to use donor cord blood samples with a degree of mismatch. Cord blood stem cells have a number of significant advantages over bone marrow including: · high rate of engraftment · more tolerant of tissue mismatches · results in a lower rate of r
Related Questions
- What are the advantages of using cord blood stem cells as opposed to stem cells collected from either the bone marrow or circulating blood?
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