stem cell therapy for arthritis

another type of stem cell that could holdpotential for rheumatoid arthritis treatment... nextumbilical cord stem cells may be useful in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.cord stem cells have enormous potential in the ever expanding field of regenerative medicine.animal and in vitro experiments have shown that mscs taken from umbilical cord bloodcan suppress inflammation and attenuate collagen-induced arthritis.study leader professor zhanguo li said, "very little is known about umbilical cord mscs,and there has been no previous report about their use in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.mscs can exert profound immunosuppression, which encourages their use in the treatmentof autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid

arthritis. at present, the most common sourceof mscs has been bone marrow. however, aspirating bone marrow is an invasive procedure and thenumber and the differentiating potential of bone marrow mscs decrease with age. in contrast,the collection of umbilical cord mscs does not require any invasive procedure".the researchers took immune cells from rheumatoid arthritis patients and showed that the umbilicalmscs were able to suppress the cells' proliferation, invasive behavior and inflammatory responses.systemic infusion of the umbilical mscs into mice was shown to significantly reduce theseverity of collagen-induced arthritis. speaking about the results, professor li said, "rheumatoidarthritis imparts a massive burden on health services worldwide and none of the currentlyused agents reaches long term drug-free remission.

therefore, a new and more effective therapyfor rheumatoid arthritis will be very welcome". comment: interesting concept.