Ex vivo-expansion of cord blood cells and its clinical application

Cord blood is a rich source of hematopoietic stem cells and could be potentially used for transplantation instead of conventional sources of stem cells (bone marrow or peripheral blood). Cord blood cells are successfully used in pediatric and adult patients, but their major limitation is the low number of hematopoietic stem cells for patients of large body size. There are several possible solutions for this problem, including use of third party donor, use of multi-unit cord blood, and finally ex-vivo expansion of cord blood hematopoietic stem cells to accelerate engraftment of transplanted cells. In this article we will discuss ex-vivo expansion from bench and clinical points of view.