Could Umbilical Cord Blood Hold the Secret to Autism Treatments?

There’s more research to be done, but a promising study into umbilical cord blood could potentially help unlock the secrets behind autism!

An exciting new study that has been testing umbilical cord blood as a potential treatment for autism has been showing some positive and enlightening signs. However, before we get too excited, the researchers have pointed out that more investigation is needed.

The study, which looked at 180 children, discovered that a single infusion of cord blood didn’t improve communication or social skills as a whole. Still, there was an improvement in the communication skills of a small percentage of children over six months.

The findings of the study, that were published in the Journal of Pediatrics on May 19th, were a positive outcome. However, more research and clinical trials are still needed before any definitive health claims could be made.

“This just gives us some hopeful data, and we’re planning additional studies,” said the senior researcher Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, a professor of pediatrics at Duke University School of Medicine, in Durham, N.C.

The basis for the research into umbilical cord blood and autism was that the cells inside umbilical blood, monocytes, could potentially temper a type of brain inflammation that’s been identified in people with autism.

Previous studies that were done on giving autistic children an infusion of umbilical cord blood at birth have found no adverse effects, but proving if it has any positive effects is difficult to prove. One of the biggest issues that affect the outcomes of any study is the amount of variance in autism between different people. No two people are the same, and either is the way that autism affects them.

The research team at Duke has begun another study in older children aged four to eight, but the downside to this is that earlier intervention has the best chance of success. The results so far into umbilical blood transfusions are only in the preliminary stages. Still, even the smallest positive effect is good news to parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.