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Umbilical Blood Cells Heal Stroke Damage in Rats

Feb. 18, 2000 (San Francisco) -- Blood cells from umbilical cords can be transformed into stem cells that restore stroke-damaged brain tissue, at least in rats, according to new research. If the treatment works in humans, umbilical blood stored at birth could be given shortly after stroke to prevent brain damage.

In the study, red blood cells were altered in the lab to make immature cells called stem cells. When those cells were injected into rats with stroke damage, the rats regained between 50% and 80% of their prestroke abilities, says lead researcher Paul Sanberg, PhD. Sanberg is director of the Center for Aging and Brain repair at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

"This opens up the idea of using cord blood for neurological disorders," says Sanberg says.

The results were reported Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Cell transplants have already been used to treat stroke and other forms of brain injury. Fetal cells have been successfully transplanted into the brains of people with Parkinson's disease, and last year new brain cells were transplanted into stroke patients. Immature human tissue is believed to be better able to restore brain function because it matures into the correct type of cell depending where in the brain it goes.

But fetal tissue is hard to come by, and some right-to-life groups have raised moral and ethical objections to using it. Umbilical blood, by contrast, offers an abundant supply of cells that are discarded about 99% of the time in the U.S.

In this study, not only did the umbilical cord cells find their way to the brain, but they made their way specifically to the damaged area. That's probably because there are chemical signals that lure the repair cells to the brain lesions, Sanberg says.

Because stored umbilical blood cells are already used to treat some forms of childhood cancer, studies testing the safety of this technique for stroke patients should proceed quickly, and the method could be tested in human stroke patients within two years.

"I'm just so excited about it because it's going to make a major difference in recovery," says Sandra Chapman, PhD, director of the Center for Brain Health at the University of Texas, in Dallas. "This has the potential to not only slow down the disease, but to reverse some of the destruction," she tells WebMD.

The method could potentially be applied to treat Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and other forms of brain injury, she says. Chapman was not affiliated with the study.

Sanberg has applied for a patent on the technology and is a consultant to a company called Cryocell International, based in Clearwater, Fla., that partly funded the study and offers long-term umbilical cell storage.

The company currently cryogenically preserves umbilical blood at birth for a charge of $275, and keeps it indefinitely for $50 per year, says Dan Richards, chief executive officer. The monthly storage fee is guaranteed in writing to never rise. "Our mission is to get everybody to store for themselves," he says.

If everything goes according to plan, the method could be available for stroke patients in about five years, Sanberg says.