Molecular Medicine Unit, University of Leeds, St. James's University Hospital, Leeds, U.K. (E-mail,
Cytotechnology. 2003 Mar;41(2-3):133-8. doi: 10.1023/A:1024874706356.
Stem and progenitor cells are present in cord blood at a high frequency making these cells a major target population for experimental and clinical studies. Over the past decade there has been considerable developments in cord blood research and transplantation but despite the rapid progress many problems remain. The initial hope that cord blood would be an alternative source of haemopoietic cells for transplantation has been tempered by the fact that there are insufficient cells in most cord blood collections to engraft an adult of average weight. In attempts to increase the cell number, a plethora of techniques for ex-vivo expansion have been developed.These techniques have also proved useful for gene therapy. As cord blood cells possess unique properties this allows them to be utilised as suitable vehicles for gene therapy and long-term engraftment of transduced cells has been achieved. Current work examining the nature of the stem cells present in this haematological source indicates that cord blood contains not only haemopoietic stem cells but also primitive non-haemopoietic cells with high proliferative and developmental potential. As attention focuses on stem cell biology and the controversies surrounding the potential use of embryonic stem cells in treatment of disease, the properties of stem cells from other sources including cord blood are being re-appraised. The purpose of this article is to review some of the current areas of work and highlight biological problems associated with the use of cord blood cells.
脐带血中存在高频率的干细胞和祖细胞，使这些细胞成为实验和临床研究的主要目标群体。在过去的十年中，脐带血研究和移植取得了相当大的进展，但尽管取得了快速进展，许多问题仍然存在。最初希望脐带血将成为移植造血细胞的替代来源，但事实是，大多数脐带血采集物中的细胞数量不足以植入平均体重的成年人，这一希望受到了抑制。为了增加细胞数量，已经开发了大量的体外扩增技术。这些技术也被证明对基因治疗有用。由于脐带血细胞具有独特的特性，因此可以将它们用作基因治疗的合适载体，并已实现转导细胞的长期植入。目前检查这种血液来源中存在的干细胞性质的工作表明，脐带血不仅含有造血干细胞，还含有具有高增殖和发育潜力的原始非造血细胞。随着人们对干细胞生物学的关注以及围绕胚胎干细胞在疾病治疗中潜在用途的争议，包括脐带血在内的其他来源的干细胞的特性正在重新评估。本文的目的是回顾一些当前的工作领域，并强调与使用脐带血细胞相关的生物学问题。
