Some private UK biobanks may be misleading expectant parents about the value of storing umbilical cord blood to treat life-threatening diseases that may arise in their child in the future, reveals an investigation by The BMJ, published today.
BMJ GroupJul 25 2024 Some private UK biobanks may be misleading expectant parents about the value of storing umbilical cord blood to treat life-threatening diseases that may arise in their child in the future, reveals an investigation by The BMJ, published today.
Private biobanks market their umbilical cord blood banking services to expectant parents as an investment in protecting their child's future health alongside claims that stem cell based therapies have been used successfully to treat a wide range of potentially life-threatening diseases, from cerebral palsy to leukaemia.
Charles Murry, director of the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle, and Pietro Merli, a paediatrician at the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital in Italy, said the list of applications is unrealistic. Cells4Life said, "Any cursory search of published literature on future applications of perinatal stem cells demonstrates the huge potential that cord blood holds for use in regenerative medicine in the future."
Umbilical Cord Baby Bone Bone Marrow Cell Cerebral Palsy Medicine Research Stem Cells
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