A study carried out by the StemCyte laboratory and published on the Parent's Guide to Cord Blood Foundation website shows how a patient, paralyzed by a stroke, recovered full motor function. The administration of a unit of umbilical cord blood made his cerebral edema disappear one year later. The results prove that cord blood, preserved in good conditions, maintains its therapeutic properties intact decades late.

According to a study by the StemCyte laboratory in the USA, the administration of umbilical cord blood helped a man to walk again. A patient, aged 46, paralyzed by a stroke, recovered after an umbilical cord blood (UCB) infusion. The blood had been cryopreserved for 17 years. In less than 12 months, he regained his motor functions and brain imaging of his showed that the swelling had resolved 1 .

Stroke: second cause of death in the world

As stated in the article, the summary of which has been published in the Web Parent's Guide to Cord Blood Foundation 2 , acute stroke is the second leading cause of death and the third leading cause of disability worldwide 1 .

More than 15 million people suffer a stroke each year. Approximately 30%-35% of these patients die and almost 75% of those who survive are permanently disabled.

Currently, the best treatment for ischemic stroke is to infuse thrombolytic agents to break down blood clots. With this therapy, it is also possible to increase blood flow to the brain. However, for every minute that treatment is delayed, 2 million nerve cells die in the patient's brain 3 .

The advantages of umbilical cord blood

Several clinical trials in various countries are testing the use of blood stem cells as a therapy for stroke 4,5 . Some of these trials use stem cells from umbilical cord blood for advantages such as that it is already stored.

Cord blood is less likely to trigger a graft-versus-host reaction; most likely in blood cells from adult donors

Some authors have also presented evidence that cryopreserved cord blood is richer in anti-inflammatory proteins than adult blood. These proteins have also been shown to allow cells to communicate. On the other hand, these authors have also shown that this blood is significantly richer in cell growth factors 1 .

Recovered in a year

As indicated by the Cell Transplantation study, in June 2019 the patient went to the hospital suffering from a stroke. The 46-year-old man had started experiencing symptoms two hours earlier. He had a history of chronic high blood pressure and had been on dialysis for end-stage kidney disease since 2011. On the eighth day after the stroke, the patient was given the umbilical cord blood unit. In addition, he received four 100-mL mannitol infusions beginning half an hour after the cord blood and every 4 hours thereafter. However, mannitol alone is not a therapy for brain injury because it has not been shown to improve long-term outcomes 6 .

Mannitol is a diuretic that is commonly given to patients suffering from traumatic brain injury to reduce intracranial pressure.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the patient's brain showed the progress of the treatment and its effect on the edema. The swelling from excess fluid in the right lobe of the brain, caused by the stroke, was receding.

These MRIs were taken with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), which is a technique that highlights brain swelling. This method can also accurately detect an ischemic stroke within minutes of its onset 7 .

The images showed that the patient's edema disappeared within 6 months after the umbilical cord blood infusion. The patient, with paralysis on the left side of his body (hemiplegia), began to regain mobility after the administration of the blood. By the third month, he was able to walk with assistance.

Hopeful results

Following cord blood therapy, he was followed up for one year. In this period, her NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score decreased from 9 to 1. Significant changes were also noted in the Berg balance scales and the Barthel index, which scores activities of daily living.

High potential value of cord blood

This case could open a new window of hope for stroke patients around the world. The results, published in the journal Cell Transplantation, further demonstrate the potential value of cord blood stored in public and private banks. And they prove that even units preserved for decades can maintain their therapeutic properties if they are stored under strict quality parameters.

References:

  1. Lee TK, Lu CY, Tsai ST, Tseng PH, Lin YC, Lin SZ, Wang JC, Huang CY, ChiuT-L. Complete Restoration of Motor Function in Acute Cerebral Stroke Treated with Allogeneic Human Umbilical Cord Blood Monocytes: Preliminary Results of a phase I Clinical Trial. Cell Transplantation 2021; 30:1-7.
  2. https://parentsguidecordblood.org/ .
  3. Saver JL, Smith EE, Fonarow GC, Reeves MJ, Zhao X, Olson DWM, Schwamm LH, and on behalf of the GWTG-Stroke Steering Committee and Investigators. The “Golden Hour” and Acute Brain Ischemia. Stroke 2010; 41(7):1431-1439.
  4. Verter F. Research on Allogeneic Cord Blood for Stroke. Parent's Guide to Cord Blood Newsletter Published 2019-09
  5. ClinicalTrials.gov. 04/19/2022
  6. Wang K, Sun M, Jiang H, Cao XP, Zeng J. Mannitol cannot reduce the mortality on acute severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients: a meta–analyses and systematic review. Burns & Trauma 2015; 3:8.
  7. GE Healthcare. MRI of the Brain to Diagnose and Monitor Stroke. Website Last updated 2019-01-11
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