Umbilical cord blood contains haematopoietic (blood) stem cells. These cells are able to make the different types of cell in the blood (red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets). Hematopoietic stem cells are also found in bone marrow. Umbilical cord blood is seen as a good alternative source of haematopoietic stem cells, since it is easily accessible. Indeed, umbilical cord blood has long been used in stem cell treatments for leukaemia, several blood disorders and immune disorders, particularly in children.

Despite the many reports of multiple sclerosis patients (and others) being successfully treated with cells from umbilical cord blood, clinical trials have not been undertaken to properly determine the safety and efficacy of these treatments and scientists agree that several problems need to be overcome before umbilical cord stem cells may be used in this kind of therapy.

For example, in order to be useful for long-term treatments of neurological diseases, the stem cells in umbilical cord blood would have to efficiently replace the cells of the nervous system that are lost as a result of the disease. A first step would be to direct umbilical cord blood stem cells to become functional nerve cells in the laboratory, however, to date, there is no compelling evidence that this is possible.