Dr. Wise Young, Ph.D., M.D, a renowned neuroscientist at Rutgers, recently outlined reasons for changing his position regarding the importance of storing stem cells from cord blood.
In response to a recent inquiry on his blog, Dr. Wise outlined why he now recommends expectant parents bank their newborn’s cord blood. He discussed the dramatic increase in the number of applications for umbilical cord blood in a short period of time, saying "Today, there is evidence that autologous umbilical cord blood stem cells will be beneficial for many other conditions, including auto-immune diseases (such as diabetes and multiple sclerosis) …Clinical trials using umbilical cord blood stem cells for both stroke and spinal cord injury are starting." Dr. Wise adds, "If you add up all the conditions that cord blood may help, it adds up to perhaps as much as 10% of all the conditions that the baby may develop in its life. It seems to be a worthwhile investment just for this reason."
Dr. Young also cites the likelihood that a relative might be able to use the stem cells from baby’s cord blood. While the likelihood of a match is somewhere between one in ten to one in four, he said, "That probability seems to be worth the investment," adding "I think that the likelihood that umbilical cord blood will prove useful for treating spinal cord injury, if properly applied, is increasing every year."
Dr. Young is the Richard H. Shindell Chair in Neuroscience at the W. M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, Department of Cell Biology & Neuroscience at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
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