Cord blood and stem cells, future’s medicine today
Research on stem cells is quickly generating promising avenues for the treatment of many illnesses that had no known cure so far. Briefly, scientists are trying to use stem cells to repair or replace cells lost or damaged by disease or congenital defects. Examples for the current targets of research are red and white blood cell diseases, cancers and tissue regeneration, such as heart, brain or skin tissue.
A well-known source of stem cells is the bone marrow. Bone marrow is where new blood cells are being constantly made. Nowadays, however, a lot of attention is being put on umbilical cord blood as it is very rich in stem cells and is easy to obtain and store.
What Is Cord Blood?
Cord blood is human blood from the umbilical cord and the placenta. Normally discarded after childbirth, cord blood is exceptional because it contains abundant blood-forming stem cells. Also, cord blood has many and even more of the benefits of other types of stem cells.
Cord Blood Collection
As soon as the umbilical cord and placenta and are separated from the newborn, they are suspended and cord blood is extracted and collected by gravity drainage. On average, yield is about 99 ml. The cord blood is then taken to a cord blood bank. Here it will be processed and analyzed for some problems like infectious agents and also for other characteristics. The cord blood must meet some criteria before they are allowed to remain in the cord blood bank.
The last step consists of extracting red blood cells, which are discarded. The remaining is then frozen and stored in liquid nitrogen (cryopreserved). Data on each sample of umbilical cord blood is now included on the cord blood bank’s database. This information is monitored and searched for a match when a transplantation is needed. Currently, it seems that cord blood can be safely stored for about ten years, but studies are in progress to improve the storage life of cord blood.
Costs of storing cord blood
Private cord blood banks usually charge prices ranging from $1400 to $2000 for initial processing and collection and about $100 a year for maintenance of cord blood reserved for private use. Some public institutions such as university hospitals and medical centers offer free programs of cord blood banking, but this is limited to special cases where a prenatal diagnosis indicates a high risk of needing a transplant in the future.
How is Cord Blood used
When needed, the stored cord blood is defrosted and washed to eliminate the cryoprotectant agents. Then it is injected to the patient’s bloodstream through a vein. Current research shows that blood-forming cells from cord blood is a good candidate for treating patients with life-threatening diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, immunodeficiencies, leukemias, cancers, other blood disorders and some metabolic defects.
Stem cell-based medicine is likely to become a major source of hopes, but this research is still very young and there are still many unsolved questions. Unfortunately, stem cells research is facing considerable opposition and obstruction coming from shortsighted and ignorant positions and needs the support and encouragement form the public opinion.
