Beneficial effects of non-matched allogeneic cord blood mononuclear cells upon patients with idiopathic osteoporosis

Abstract

Background: Immunological arguments and historical examples have shown that treatment with cord blood for non-hematopoietic activities, such as growth factor production and stimulation of angiogenesis, may not require matching or immune suppression.Methods: To study the benefit of blood mononuclear cell therapy, 8 patients with idiopathic osteoporosis were given intermittent treatments with non-matched allogeneic cord blood mononuclear cells for 3 months. Morning fasting samples were collected for measuring urine N telopeptide of type-1 collagen, serum bone-specific alkaline phosphatase, and insulin-like growth factor 1 during one-year study.Results: Clinical response was striking. Serum insulin-like growth factor 1 significantly increased in all patients at 3 months compared with baseline values, from 264.1 ± 107.0 to 384.4 ± 63.1 ng/mL (P = 0.002), with a tendency to return to baseline values at 12 months (312.9 ± 75.5 ng/mL, P = 0.083). In contrast, differences in serum bone-specific alkaline phosphatase and urine N telopeptide of type-1 collagen were not significant at 3 (P = 0.765, P = 0.057) or 12 months (P = 0.889, P = 0.122). A beneficial effect on bone density was observed in all patients at the lumbar spine. The mean bone mineral density calculated during therapy (0.6811 ± 0.1442 g/cm 2) tended higher than baseline values (0.6239 ± 0.1362 g/cm 2, P < 0), and percentage change (median) varied from 8.85% at 3 months to 7.85% at one year. All patients are now well after one year.Conclusions: The findings indicate that for these patients with idiopathic osteoporosis, treatment with cord blood mononuclear cells led to a significant increase in insulin-like growth factor 1 levels, which favors the increase in bone mineral density. © 2012 Li et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.