Can stem cell therapy be used to treat chronic renal failure?

Q: My husband is suffering from chronic renal failure due to reflux nephropathy. We got to know about it 3 years back. He has been maintaining his creatinine levels at 2.2 to 2.4. Now I am pregnant & planning to go for a cord blood collection of my child. Is there any future treatment for kidney patients by stem cell therapy? Is there any research about the progress of this therapy? Can my child also get this problem?

A:Stem cell therapy for kidney disease is in very experimental stages at present. In future it is possible that it may evolve as a treatment modality for some kidney diseases. Though reflux nephropathy can run in families, it is not likely that your child may have the defect. At present stem cells cant repair this type of defect.