The Second Annual International Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation Symposium
was held May 14 and 15 in Los Angeles. The rapidly growing interest in cord
blood transplantation was indicated in part by the fact that attendees were
from Canada, Mexico, Australia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel,
Italy, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom and
from around the United States. The scientific sessions reviewed the use of
cord blood units for transplantation of adults, supportive care in cord blood
tranplantation; current strategies in unrelated cord blood donor selection,
transplantation for childhood and genetic disorders; the immune status following
cord blood transplantation; ex-vivo expansion; regenerative medicine; and
contemporary issues in cord blood banking.
A summary of the meeting and abstracts
of presentations have been published in the October 2004 issue of Biology
of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, 2004;10:728-739. A reprint may
be obtained by sending a request with postal mailing address to: symposiumreprint@cordbloodforum.org.
