Cord Blood Banks are Public or Private institutions that are technically prepared to store the blood obtained from your baby’s umbilical cord for many years. In fact, the object is not to store the baby’s blood but to extract, purify and store a population of very special and unique fetal cells found in the placenta and the cord: Stem Cells or Umbilical Cord Pluripotentials (from: Umbilical Cord Stem Cells).

What are Stem Cells, Pluripotentials or Stem Cells?

Stem cells are cells that have the potential to become cells of various organs: they could differentiate themselves and give rise to any organ of the body such as liver, muscle, bone, kidneys, heart, lungs, arteries, blood and its components, etc.

This is a simple way to understand the capacity of transformation of these cells although it is not entirely real or so simple. The fact is that the Stem Cells have certain capacities that we have managed to study, understand, manipulate and use in modern medicine for the benefit of humanity and particularly of the individual affected by a disease susceptible to treatment through the use of these cells.

Where are the Pluripotential Cells?

In the child and the adult we find these cells in the bone marrow (the marrow) that is found inside certain bones. These cells have been used for many years but their collection and availability is limited. These are the cells that are used in what is known as Bone Marrow Transplantation. To obtain them you have to make punctures in the bones that can contain them and then store them waiting for a compatible patient who needs them. The Stem Cells of the umbilical cord are found in very abundant quantities in cord blood and access to them is extremely easy but there is only “one chance in life” for their collection: the time of delivery or cesarean section.

What is the importance of storing these cells?

When we store these cells we are guaranteeing the baby a Life Insurance in the future, in the unfortunate event that years later suffer a malignant (cancer) or severe benign disease susceptible to being treated with stem cells. As these cells are his own and identical to him, the compatibility is 100%

How are these cells obtained?

The cells are obtained by extracting (with a needle) the blood from the cord once the baby is born, so it is not a painful or dangerous procedure for the mother or her baby

What are these cells for?

The Stem Cells of the umbilical cord are basically used for Bone Marrow Transplantation in patients with malignant diseases, immune, hematological, metabolic and genetic diseases; very severe, of course.

What diseases can not be treated?

Unlike what some laboratories say, it is possible that some pediatric cancers are not susceptible to treatment with these cells (when they are their own) since it has been shown that most of these diseases have a genetic origin and therefore the cells of the cord contain the same defect that gave rise to or allowed the appearance of cancer (this is a discrepancy under study)

Types of cord blood banks

Private: the blood stored in these banks will not be used in another person that is not its owner. These banks can not deliver or sell the stored cells unless authorized by the parents or the owner. In these companies you have to pay for storage and preparation before the eventual need for use. When a transplant is made to its owner, this is called Autologous Transplant since it is receiving its own material: the compatibility is 100% for the owner.

Public: this is an anonymous storage system. The cells are stored at no cost to the donor but are no longer his property and any right or possibility of personal use is lost to them in the future (it is like the traditional blood bank). These institutions collect many units and are delivered to the person who needs them if it is compatible for any of the units in custody. In this case, the receiver covers the costs of preparing and sending the cells to receive them in treatment. When cells of this type of banks are used, the procedure is called Allogeneic Transplantation, which means that it is receiving material from a foreign but compatible source.

What are the limitations?

In private banks: the main limitation is the cost of storage ($ 700 to $ 1000 US dollars in the first year and then around $ 100 per year). On the other hand, the blood obtained does not have any particular test (in some laboratories only some tests of infectious diseases are practiced) and could go so far as not to be usable if needed in the future. It is also necessary to consider that the number of cells is insufficient for the treatment of the owner once this has become adult (20,000,000 cells per kilogram of weight are needed for an adequate treatment)

In public banks: stored cells are not specific to the patient who needs them, so there may be problems finding a compatible donor or only partial compatibility with a higher risk of rejection. A significant percentage of patients can not get a compatible donor despite having hundreds of thousands of units stored.

Can someone in the family use my baby’s cells?

Yes, in direct relatives it is possible to use them since we find compatibility of 30-50%

Can the cells be reproduced in the laboratory?

It is possible to grow the cells to obtain larger numbers but that implies a considerable additional cost. This is because the treatment depends on the number of cells according to the patient’s weight

If I lost the opportunity to take cord blood, have I lost all the benefits?

Although the opportunity to have a resource 100% compatible with the baby was lost, public banks are growing considerably so it will be easier to access cord cells from other babies and with a very acceptable degree of compatibility. . In fact the average time to find a suitable donor is about 15 days (goes from 3 to 280 days)

What is the real possibility of needing a transplant in the future?

The truth is that it is quite remote, you do not always have to get a cell transplant and not all cancers benefit from this treatment but only the fact that you have the resource is enough for many people to do so and give a feeling of assurance regarding the life of your son or daughter.

The probability that an average child will need a transplant of their own stem cells before 20 years of age has been estimated at 4 / 10,000 (0.04%).

Dr. F. Leonard Johnson, Oct1998; Blood & amp; Marrow Transplant Newsletter, issue # 43, Oct. 98, vol.9 no.3; originally published: FL Johnson, 1997; J Ped Hem Onc 19 (3): 183-186

However, in the course of life and up to 70 years of age, the probability of needing their stem cells for a transplant increases to 1 out of 400 (0.25%).

JJ Nietfeld and F. Verter Oct 2004 presentation at Tufts University. Medicine ICBS conference.

As it turned out, in both cases the probability of using the cells for oncological reasons is very low, but with advances in genetic engineering the non-oncological indications could significantly increase their potential for use in the next 50 years.

Future

Eventually the costs of private banks will decrease as a result of the increase in the number of samples stored and the creation of local banks in each country. With advances in genetic engineering in the not too distant future we can manipulate the genes of these cells, eliminate and correct the defective portions and then reinsert them into the diseased organism to correct an increasing number of diseases. In the next 50 years we will see great advances in this area of ??great controversy but they will be plagued by considerations and economic, ethical, moral and religious contradictions