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About Cord Blood and Stem Cells
1. What is cord blood?
Cord blood also known as umbilical cord blood is blood taken from the newborn’s umbilical cord and placenta (afterbirth) immediately following birth. Cord blood contains high concentrations of stems cells, which are the cells from which all new blood cells, the body’s immune system and other organ tissues develop.
2. What are stem cells?
Stem cells are the most primitive cells that are found in bone marrow, umbilical cord and placenta blood, umbilical cord and placenta tissues, adult peripheral blood and other body tissues. Stem cells are the master or progenitor cells from which all the various types of blood cells and other body organ tissues such as bone, muscle, heart, liver, kidney, neuro, eye, skin, etc. are derived.
3. How are stem cells being used in medicine today
The master or progenitor stem cells are unprogrammed cells in the human body. These remarkable, new, ready-to-develop cells have the ability to change into other types of cells. Stem cells are at the center of a new field of science called regenerative medicine. Because stem cells can become bone, muscle, cartilage and other specialized types of cells, they have the potential to treat many diseases, including leukemias, anemias, heart disease and a host of other diseases currently numbering more than 75 stem cell treatable disorders. Future scientific discoveries hold the promise of potential stem cell treatment help for stroke, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, lupus, neurodegenerative disorders, and many other medical problems. Eventually, they may also be used to regenerate organs, reducing the need for organ transplants and related surgeries.
Stem cells can typically be broken into four types:
- Embryonic stem cells - Stem cells taken from human embryos
- Fetal stem cells- Stem cells taken from aborted fetal tissue
- Umbilical stem cells - Stem cells taken from umbilical cord and placenta blood and tissues
- Adult stem cells - Stem cells taken from bone marrow, adult peripheral blood and other body tissues.
4. What sorts of diseases can be treated with stem cell transplantations?
Currently, more than 75 disorders are treatable with stem cells. There are new discoveries each day in the field of stem cell research and their potential.
5. What is the future of cord blood stem cell transplants in the future?
Stem cells are the way of the future in medical technology. Ethical research is underway throughout the medical community and scientific discoveries are being made every day that are bringing us closer to being able to treat and cure many diseases once thought to be incurable or terminal.
6. Why is cord blood preferred by the medical community over bone marrow transplants?
Less Risk, Readily Accessible, More Effective and More Cost Efficient Than Bone Marrow
*Cord blood is much easier and considerably less expensive to access than undergoing a bone marrow transplant. There is no need to put a donor under anesthesia or require them to endure the discomfort to extract the marrow with a needle from the hip.
No Tissue Matching Issues (Human Leucocyte Antibody [HLA] Matching) and Reduced Rejection Risks (Graft vs. Host Disease [GVHD])
*There are also advantages in terms of matching requirements for a donor/recipient, as well as greatly reduced risks of rejection GVHD and complications. The blood can be used to treat the newborn from whom it was obtained, or to treat the child's blood mother or sibling.
7. What is graft vs. host disease (GVHD)?
GVHD is a side effect of a bone marrow or stem cell transplant that occurs when new bone marrow or stem cells (the graft) that are transplanted from a person other than the one being treated is rejected or attacked by the patient's body (the host) because it is recognized as foreign tissue. People who receive autologous (self donated for self use) stem cell transplants greatly reduce their risk of GVHD, because they are transplanted with their own donated stem cells, rather than allogeneic derived stem cells (stem cells donated specifically for their use by another person, or obtained from a public stem cell bank as a matched specimen).
8. What is HLA matching?
HLA is the laboratory abbreviation for Human Leukocyte Antigens. What is commonly referred to as HLA matching is actually a test for the six proteins (i.e. antigens) that appear on the surface of white blood cells and most other tissues in the body. HLA testing is used to match the tissue compatibility between patients and donors for stem cell transplants in an effort to mitigate transplant rejection. Your immune system uses these proteins, or markers, to recognize which cells belong in your body and which do not. A close match between your HLA antigens and your donor's can reduce the risk that your immune cells will attack your donor's cells or that your donor's immune cells will attack your body after the transplant. This issue is eliminated if using your own preserved autologous or self donated for self-use cord blood stem cells. If you have not stored your own cord blood stem cells and you need an allogeneic transplant (which uses cells from a family member, unrelated donor or public cord blood bank), prior to transplant your doctor will take a blood sample to test for your HLA tissue traits to determine if a close match can be found. Even if a close HLA matched donor is located, prudence usually dictates that your physician will most likely recommend including lifelong anti-rejection drug therapy post-transplant to reduce the prospects for stem cell transplant rejection.
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