Placental Stem Cells

[Grooveman2007]

This morning I caught a little bit of the TODAY show before I left. It was a story about a 2-year-old boy with cerebral palsy. His mother had decided to save his placental blood, which was known to contain stem cells, just in case. The $2000+$120/year investmant payed off when the boy, Dallas, had the blood infused in an attempt to help treat his palsy. Five days after the infusion Dallas' major symptoms were almost non-existant, and doctors predict that he will be entirely cured by age seven. Part of the sucess is credited to the fact that the cells were an exact genetic match to Dallas. It is estimated that the placental blood contains 185 million stem cells, embryos contain only a few hundred.

Why would we spend so much money and effort on embryonic research when we can just store the placental blood? The storage is not yet covered by most insurance providers but with a bit more publicity it should be mainstream.

Here's a link to the story

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/23572206/

[apey]

No matter what we do there will always be someone that says it is wrong But I agree, with cord blood we don't need embryos

[ritz627]

yea, there is this, and scientists have also derived mesenchymal cells (stem cells) from the glandular tissue between the sebaceous glands and hair follicle of the skin.

[Frigidus]

There are actually differences between the placental, embryonic, and adult stem cells. I'm not exactly an expert in this, but I believe the embryonic stem cells are incredibly adaptable when compared to the other two.

[Harijan]

There are actually differences between the placental, embryonic, and adult stem cells. I'm not exactly an expert in this, but I believe the embryonic stem cells are incredibly adaptable when compared to the other two.

true in theory, but the science is so under-developed at this point that there are no exclusive uses for embryonic cells. The two types of cells are essentially interchangeable from a clinical standpoint at this time.

I have done work for Cryo-cell in the past. It is a fantastic idea and a great product.

my only complaint is that right now it is only available to the rich ($2,000 initial and $120 a year, every year).

The other problems are that:
1. they do not know how long embryonic stem cells can be stored for and still be used. So you could store the cells for 20 years and then have them be useless, or even dangerous.

2. There are no guarantees associated with your investment. If the company storing your cells gets bought or goes out of business, too bad for you.

The unmentioned benefits include:
stem cells from one family member have a 25% chance of being viable for treating other family members. So storing your kids stem cells could cure you of cancer.

There is a public storage option, but the public stem cell storage network does not guarantee that your stem cells will be available to you if you need or want them.