International Journal of Stem Cells All Title Author Keywords Abstract   :: 선택 :: AND OR   International Journal of Stem Cells 2009 Nov; 2(2): 83~89 Non-Hematopoietic Stem Cells in Umbilical Cord Blood Taro Matsumoto1, Hideo Mugishima2 1Division of Cell Regeneration and Transplantation, School of Medicine, Advanced Medical Research Center, Nihon University, 2Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan Allogeneic umbilical cord blood (UCB) transplantation has been used to treat a variety of malignant and non-malignant diseases. Recent studies show convincing evidence that UCB contains not only hematopoietic progenitors, but also several types of stem and progenitor cells providing a high proliferative capacity and a variety of differentiation potentials. UCB-derived cells offer multiple advantages over adult stem cells from other sources like bone marrow (BM), because UCB can be collected without painful procedure, easily available in virtually unlimited supply, and has not been exposed to immunologic challenge. In addition, cord blood transplantation is now an established field with great potential and no serious ethical issue by establishment of public UCB banks throughout the world. Therefore UCB-derived non-hematopoietic stem cells may provide an attractive cell source for tissue repair and regeneration. It is generally accepted that UCB contains endothelial progenitor cells (EPC), mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC), unrestricted somatic stem cells (USSC), very small embryonic-like stem cells (VSEL), multilineage progenitor cells (MLPC), and neuronal progenitor cells. This review focuses on biological properties of these non-hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells derived from human UCB and their potential use in cell based therapies. International Journal of Stem Cells 2009 Nov; 2(2): 83~89 Keyword : Endothelial progenitor cell, Mesenchymal stem cell, Unrestricted somatic stem cell, Embryonic stem-like cell, Neuronal progenitor cell, Umbilical cord transplantation