[Present state of cord-blood stem cell transplantation]

Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) can cure some hematologic and solid malignancies, but its success depends on the prompt identification of a suitable donor and the avoidance of severe graft-versus-host (GVH) disease. Transplantation using hematopoietic stem cells from umbilical cord blood may overcome these problems. Over the past several years, cord blood transplantation (CBST) from siblings and unrelated donors has been performed in more than 300 patients. The probability of event-free survival was almost similar to that for BMT. This review described the recent status of CBST in USA, Europe and Japan, and the outlook for CBST.