Introduction: Umbilical cord blood (UCB) is an accessible source of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) with the ability of self-renewing and differentiation into all blood cells. Along with the advantages, UCB also has limitations: the low volume and the absolute number of HSCs available in UCB leading to the delayed engraftment. Given the limitations, many investigators have sought to accelerate engraftment and increase the absolute number of stem cells in UCB units.
Methods: n the present study more than 200 published articles about UCB were reviewed untill 2020.This review article is aimed to focus on the importance of using cord blood, and ex vivo expansion techniques of UCB HSB. Also in this review article has been used some related keywords, includingUmbilical Cord Blood, Stem Cells, and Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation that were collected from reliable databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and Elsevier. Among potential candidates, those which were the most relevant to the purposes of the study were selected and evaluated.
Results: UCB HSCs possess higher proliferative potentials and contain a higher proportion of primitive compartment as compared to bone marrow and peripheral blood. Several studies have reported
the presence of different cell populations besides HSCs in cord blood that enable the use of these sources in immunotherapy, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine. Thus, the strategies to isolate and expand selected subpopulations from UCB and the use of these cells in treatment of various diseases are the areas of active research.
Conclusion: Umbilical cord blood is an attractive source in both research and modern clinical applications providinh a potentially useful alternative for patients who do not have an HLA-matched bone marrow donor. Besides the safety and feasibility of UCB, the other areas including the acceleration of the engraftment, the extension of access, the quality assurance, and the outcomes in the specific subgroups of patients are also required to be investigated.