Umbilical Cord Blood Found to Yield Embryo-Like Stem Cells
LONDON
August 18, 2005

(LifeSiteNews.com) - The hope of curing diseases using stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood has just received another boost. Scientists from the UK’s Kingston University and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, have discovered a type of cell in the umbilical cord that shares the same properties as embryonic stem cells. Called “cord-blood-derived embryonic-like stem cells” (CBE), are not as flexible as the cells derived from embryos but much more so than cells from bone marrow, the usual source of ‘adult’ stem cells.

Colin McGuckin of Kingston University, calling his team’s discovery a “first,” said, “We have found a unique group of cells that bring together the essential qualities of both types of stem cells for the first time.”

CBE cells combine the medical advantages of adult and embryonic cells having some of the characteristic proteins or “markers,” considered as identifiers of embryonic stem cells. The CBE’s also do not require a “feeder” layer of animal cells as a growth medium which has been found to contaminate stem cell lines.

The method used to culture the cells, using zero gravity technology first developed by NASA, has made it possible to create CBE cells at a much faster rate and in much greater quantities than is possible with embryo-derived cells.

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