A newly created molecule multiplies stem cells in umbilical cord blood, researchers report in the September 19 Science. The finding brings the promise of more widespread use of cord blood in the treatment of blood cancers.
Currently only 5 percent of stored cord blood samples have enough stem cells for transplants. The new molecule has the potential to make up to 50 percent of cord blood units available for transplants, says study coauthor Guy Sauvageau, a hematologist and stem cell researcher at the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer in Montreal