Hundreds of Cord Blood Stem Cells Transplants Performed by Iranian Company

“We have so far performed about 250 stem cell transplants using umbilical cord blood stem cells, especially in blood diseases,” said Morteza Zarrabi, the managing director of the company.

Clinical trials with stem cells are also being conducted for non-blood diseases such as cerebral palsy, autism, and arthritis, he added.

Zarrabi further said that umbilical cord blood has received much attention in recent years as it is full of hematopoietic stem cells.  

“The cord blood was previously discarded as a biological waste, but later it was found that the blood contains hematopoietic stem cells,” Zarrabi highlighted, adding, “If the cells are collected, they can be used in treatment of diseases of blood origin.”

“Stem cells have basically the characteristic that if they replace the damaged tissues, they can repair the damaged cells. That is why they have become very important,” he added.

“Due to its availability, umbilical cord blood can be used in treatment of malignant diseases such as thalassemia, blood cancers, immune system defects, and congenital anemias that have a blood origin,” Zarrabi pointed out.

“The cycle of stem cells and its technical knowledge including separating stem cells, turning them into specialized cells, storing them for a long time, and using them to treat diseases is now available in the country,” he stressed.

He pointed to the storage of stem cells comprising more than 185,000 umbilical cord blood samples in the country, adding, “The storage is the largest of its kind in the region.”

4155/g