Cord Blood Cells and Autoimmune Diseases

Autoimmune diseases (ADs) are a group of heterogeneous conditions, affecting 5–8% of the population. They were traditionally classified as “organ-specific AD,” such as autoimmune thyroiditis and diabetes mellitus, where the consequences of the organ failure can be improved by a replacement opotherapy or an organ transplant, and as “diffuse or systemic AD,” including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), vasculitis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), juvenile immune arthritis, scleroderma, multiple sclerosis, and others (neurological AD, rheumatological AD, inflammatory bowel diseases, immune cytopenia) where treatment is more difficult. In most cases conventional immunosuppressive therapy allows to control the original AD (SLE, RA, vasculitis), but definitive cure is rarely achieved and lifelong immunosuppression is required. Chronic immunosuppression in severe inflammatory or in refractory AD patients is associated with a high treatment-related morbidity and significant disease- and treatment-related mortality. In this context, new therapeutic approaches are warranted.