Well, I participated in a trial this summer using cord blood stem cells in my stem cell transplant for leukemia.
In general, a cord blood unit doesnt contain enough cells to transplant an adult or even a larger child.
My trial study the use of two units rather than one. This gets interesting, because when using two units, you are using two seperate donors.
Cord blood doesnt need to be matched near as close as an adult donor. Adult donors are best when they are a complete match. Cord blood can be succesful when as low as only a half match. Both of my units were mismatched to me as well as each other.
The trial is to see if using two units together makes cord blood more succesful in adults or larger children.
Typically, only unit will engraft, while the other more or less supports the unit that engrafted.
The trial has not finished yet, they are still in phase two, meaning they are still activly looking for participants. When they reach the total number for the study it will go into phase 3, only monitoring that progress and status of the participants.
I think the trial has bee going on longer than just this past year, but I think it is a huge step. Cord blood is more viable for several reasons, including that it does not require as close a match.
And, this cord blood is donated AFTER a safe and healthy delivery, with no harm to the baby or mother. The unit contains the blood in the umbilical cord and placenta. In most cases it has been filtered through a centrifuse so that only certain cells are transfused, but not always.
My unit engrafted sooner than typical cord blood transplants, thought to be because of the second unit 'supporting' the graft. And today, 6 months post transplant, I am doing excellent.
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