Banking and transplantation of unrelated donor umbilical cord blood: Status of the national heart, lung, and blood institute-sponsored trial

Quarterly reports suggest that cryopreserved UCB from unrelated donors is a sufficient source of transplantable hematopoietic progenitor sales at least for small recipients. In addition to the rapid availability of and low rate of herpes-virus contamination of unrelated-donor UCB, the data further suggest that the probabilities of grade III to IV acute GVHD and extensive chronic GVHD may be lower than those observed after unrelated-donor marrow transplantation. The relative importance of graft cell dose and the acceptable degrees of HLA disparity in determining the outcome after unrelated-donor UCB transplantation must be determined. These outcomes will have major implications for banking practices and graft selection protocols specifically and for the future of UCB transplantation in general.