A biotech startup called Nohla Therapeutics is currently researching ways to improve the use of umbilical cord blood stem cells for treating patients with low white-cell counts. Patients typically have low white-cell if they are affected by an immune system disorder or have undergone a chemotherapy treatment for cancer.
The stem cells from the cord blood are increasingly being used as an alternative to bone marrow for the treatment of diseases including leukaemia and lymphoma. The stem cells from the cord blood can establish the body’s ability to produce healthy blood cells including white cells — that makes it useful for the treatment of blood disorders, blood cancers, immune system disorders and metabolic disorders.
Nohla Therapeutics has been focusing on how cord blood stem cells are processed by the laboratory after being extracted from the umbilical cord. The company has grown out of the research from Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre — a research facility responsible for many breakthroughs in stem cell research.
It is not the first company that has been established to pursue the discoveries made by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre. Another company called Juno Therapeutics launched 2-years ago in Washington with the goal of researching stem cell-based treatments for immune disorders.
The key benefit of umbilical cord blood is that it doesn’t need a very close genetic match between the donor and recipient for a transplant to be successful. The disadvantage of cord blood stem cells is that you don’t get many from each umbilical cord. There is about a cup of cord blood within an umbilical cord, which turns into 5 teaspoons once processed. Of those 5 teaspoons, approximately 1 percent contains viable stem cells.
Because the number of stem cells is so low, it can take longer for healthy blood generation to start again for the patient. During this time, their white-cell count is very low and they are susceptible to infections.
Nola Therapeutics is developing ways to propagate the stem cells from the cord blood, dramatically multiplying their numbers before using them in a transplant. The stem cells are processed in a way that makes them ideal for quickly propping up a patient’s white-cell count. These processed stem cells cannot cause an immune system reaction and be rejected like typical stem cells. If trials continue to be successful, they will be used like an off-the-shelf product, to quickly boost a person’s immune system.
Source: Startup Nohla Therapeutics to build on Hutch cord-blood work
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