The Stem Cell Source regularly receives questions from readers, and we wanted to take some time to answer some of the most common questions now.  We’ll continue to do this on a regular basis.  Thank you for reading.  

Are spinal cord injuries currently being treated with cord blood stem cells?
There is a great deal of interest in using cord blood stem cells to treat spinal cord injuries, especially considering some preclinical work showing that cord blood can provide improved functionality to animals with spinal cord injuries.(1) At present, the majority of the research is being done in animal studies, although a human clinical trial was recently launched in China and is currently investigating the use of cord blood stem cells from donors to treat adults with a spinal cord injury.(2)

Is autism currently being treated with cord blood stem cells?
Although there is a great deal of interest in the potential use of stem cells to treat autism, at present there are no ongoing clinical trials. A few clinics outside the U.S. have described the use of stem cells to treat the condition, but so far none of these treatments have been validated. Researchers and physicians face a major obstacle in developing stem cell-based treatments for autism because the underlying cause of the condition is not yet well-defined. There is potential that as ongoing studies reveal more about the cause of autism, researchers will begin to explore ways in which stem cell-based therapies may be able to help children with the condition.

What is the state of the research with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)?
MSCs are able to differentiate into a variety of cells such as bone, cartilage, fat, and connective tissue and are currently being explored for a number of indications in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering therapies. (3)
Currently, the vast majority of the clinical trials for MSCs in the U.S. and abroad are using MSCs from adult sources, mainly from the bone marrow. Nevertheless, the use of MSCs from the tissue of the umbilical cord is being extensively explored mostly using animal models of disease. Researchers are at the cusp of discovering what benefits MSCs from the umbilical cord tissue may hold in humans.


References
1- Chua SJ, Bielecki R, Yamanaka N, Fehlings MG, Rogers IM, Casper RF. The effect of umbilical cord blood cells on outcomes after experimental traumatic spinal cord injury. Spine. 2010;35(16):1520-1526.

2-Safety and Feasibility of Umbilical Cord Blood Cell Transplant Into Injured Spinal Cord. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01046786.

3- Bobis S, Jarocha D, Majka M. Mesenchymal stem cells: characteristics and clinical applications. Folia Histochem Cytobiol. 2006;44(4):215-30.