Human Umbilical Cord Matrix Stem Cells: Preliminary Characterization and Effect of Transplantation in a Rodent Model of Parkinson's Disease

The umbilical cord contains an inexhaustible, noncontroversial source of stem cells for therapy. In the U.S., stem cells found in the umbilical cord are routinely placed into bio-hazardous waste after birth. Here, stem cells derived from human umbilical cord Wharton's Jelly, called umbilical cord matrix stem (UCMS) cells, are characterized. UCMS cells have several properties that make them of interest as a source of cells for therapeutic use. For example, they 1) can be isolated in large numbers, 2) are negative for CD34 and CD45, 3) grow robustly and can be frozen/thawed, 4) can be clonally expanded, and 5) can easily be engineered to express exogenous proteins. UCMS cells have genetic and surface markers of…

• KS
  King Saud University
• NI
  National Institutes of Health
• NI
  National Institute on Aging