This does not mean that Treg are less valuable targets for intervention. It could even be argued that if human Treg, instead of eliminating Teff by inducing apoptosis, render Teff either anergic, or even turn them into suppressor cells themselves, may be able to exert a stronger bystander suppression in an ongoing inflammatory Scabioside-C response. Our functional data here support that Treg are excellent clinical targets to counteract autoimmune diseases. For optimal functional Ginkgolide-J outcome in human clinical trials, future work should focus on the ability of Treg to suppress proliferation and cytokine production of Teff, rather than induction of Teff apoptosis. Umbilical cord blood is a rich source of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. During the past decades, human cord blood of term neonates has been established as a potential source for HSPC transplantation. Therefore, many studies focus on hematopoietic and immunological features of HSPCs in term newborns. In normal human development, fetuses gradually mature to adapt to extrauterine conditions. Premature birth is often associated with obstetric and perinatal complications, interrupting the physiologic development process and resulting in organ damage or dysfunction. In our study, we found differences in CD34+ HSPC concentrations and in vitro clonogenic capacity in preterm compared with term cord blood cells and, using multiple linear backward regression, three predictive factors influencing the count and in vitro clonogenic capacity: gestational age, white blood cell count and maternal age. The gestational age of neonates is a consistent predictor for both HSPC concentration and clonogenic capacity. Gasparoni et al. reported a gestational age-dependent decrease of concentration and clonogenic potential of CD34+ HSPCs, which is in line with our results. The HSPC concentration in preterm cord blood samples might be influenced by individual occurring fetal stress during premature birth. Acute fetal stress seems to induce the release of cytokines resulting in higher HSPC counts.