Currently, one of the most established and widely accepted stem cell bank systems is umbilical cord blood banking. However, the establishement of somatic stem cell bank other than cord blood (non-hematopoietic stem cells) is still underway. The nature of somatic stem/progenitor cells is much different from that of embryonic stem (ES) cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Somatic stem/progenitor cells possess limited ability to differentiate compared with ES cells and iPS cells. Furthermore, accumulating evidence suggests that somatic stem cells may lose their plasticity soon after cultivation is initiated (Sugiura et al., 2004). Thus, expansion and storage of autologous somatic stem cells for personal future use could.
