Placental Stem Cells A Potential New Source of Stem Cell Harvesting
Researchers at a Children’s Hospital in Oakland believe they have found a new source of stem cells that could cure a variety of blood diseases. The breakthrough would help not just children, but adults as well.
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Researchers took stem cells from the placentas of consenting women who had Ceasarian sections at Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley. Doctors found a large number of blood producing stem cells in those organs which they were able to grow.
Researchers say these cells don’t have to perfectly match the bone marrow of patients looking for transplants.
“The important thing is can you harvest them, are there plenty of them and can you use them? And that’s what we have shown,” said Dr. Frans Keypers.
Patients currently have to wait until a bone marrow donor match is found and if the tissue isn’t similar, the body will reject the transplanted marrow. With these placental stem cells, the match doesn’t have to be as precise, offering hope to African American, Asian and multiracial patients who often can’t find donor matches.
Before this, scientists were primarily studying embryonic stem cells which have the ability to grow into any kind of cell type. The findings appear in the next month’s issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine.
