Welcome to our third and final article on Cord Blood Banking 101 series! On the first part, we talked about the discovery of cord blood use in medicine and what diseases can be treated. While on the second part, we talked about the benefits of cord tissue, why expecting parents save the cord blood and cord tissue with a private cord blood bank, and the process.
In this last article, we’ll talk in more detail about the steps in cord blood banking, the storage options available for expecting parents, and what happens after the cord blood sample is collected and shipped to the laboratory.
What is Umbilical Cord Blood and Why is it so Valuable?
The umbilical cord and placenta feed nutrients to your unborn child throughout pregnancy. After birth, the placenta detaches from the uterine lining and is typically discarded. The umbilical cord is clamped, and then removed.
Previously the cord and placenta were both discarded as medical waste. Thanks to the efforts of researchers, medical professionals now understand the value of stem cells in the placenta and umbilical cord.
Cord blood is rich in Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSCs), which are used to treat over 85 different life-threatening diseases. Some of the other stem cells found in umbilical cord blood are valuable because they are multipotent, meaning they can change in many types of cells. Umbilical cord blood contains Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) which are the subject of much of the research into regenerative medicine.
The stem cells found in umbilical cord blood are also particularly valuable because they are immature cells. That means they are less likely to trigger an immune system response when transplanted.
Read this article – Comprehensive Guide to Cord Blood Banking Part 1 to learn the role of the umbilical cord blood and the powerful regenerative properties of the stem cells it contains. The article also talks about how HSCs are used to fight cancer. When a patient undergoes chemotherapy to kill cancer cells, healthy blood cells are also killed. Damage to the bone marrow can compromise a person’s ability to produce healthy red blood cells. HSCs can be used to rebuild a person’s immune system and blood-producing capability.
What is Cord Blood Banking?
The cord blood collection process is very straight forward and usually only takes 20-30 minutes. There are different types of storing the cord blood. At Cells4Life, we provide the most comprehensive cord blood storage services for parents:
- CellsPlus – our latest service powered by TotiCyte, a new blood separation technology patented by and is exclusive to Cells4Life.
- Whole Cord Blood – this type of storage captures all stem cells present in the cord blood including hormones and other growth factors.
- Volume Reduced – this processing method extracts the maximum number of HSCs from the cord blood using the AXP technology.
- Cord Tissue Storage – in addition to cord blood storage, we also store a piece of the umbilical cord too. The cord tissue is a rich source of MSCs and other stem cell types not present in the cord blood which are expected to have great therapeutic benefit in the future.
WATCH: STEM CELL STORAGE SERVICES EXPLAINED
This article Comprehensive Guide to Cord Blood Banking Part 2 explains the fundamentals of umbilical cord blood banking. Simply put, cord blood banking is the process of collecting, processing and storing umbilical blood.
WATCH: INTRO TO CORD BLOOD BANKING
How to Get Started with Umbilical Cord Blood Banking
Parents can get started with saving their baby’s cord blood by contacting Cells4Life and selecting a storage plan. Our cord blood banking specialists will answer any questions you might want to ask such as the different storage plans and the payment options available. Once the paperwork is done, Cells4Life will send you a collection kit that you’ll give to your obstetrician or midwife. Parents should inform the obstetrician or midwife in advance that they want the umbilical cord blood to be collected after birth.
This article – Comprehensive Guide to Cord Blood Banking Part 3 describes the process for signing up with a cord blood bank and describes what happens on the day of delivery.
On the day of delivery parents will need to contact Cells4Life so a courier can be organised to pick up the sample. The procedure of cord blood collection is completely painless and risk-free for both mother and child. It is done after the umbilical cord has been removed and only takes a few minutes. The blood is simply drained from the umbilical cord into a bag. It is packed into a special medical container, ready for collection by the courier. Once collected, the umbilical cord blood is delivered to the laboratory where it is processed, making it ready for storage.
Read this article – Comprehensive Guide to Cord Blood Banking Part 4 for more details about the process of umbilical cord blood collection.
WATCH: SIMPLE STEPS TO CORD BLOOD BANKING
How is the Umbilical Cord Blood transported to the Laboratory?
Once the sample is processed, it is stored in the vapour phase of liquid nitrogen, a more reliable method that has a reduced the risk of sample cross contamination. Cells4Life provides the option to store samples for up to 60 years. Theoretically, cord blood can be stored indefinitely in a frozen state, but Cells4Life chooses to define storage limits based on research that has hard evidence for stem cell viability.
This article – Comprehensive Guide to Cord Blood Banking Part 5 explains how the sample is packaged for delivery and stored. A specially designed medical shipper is used to ensure your child’s umbilical cord blood is stored at the right temperature. It also talks about the HLA tissue typing, which is done to help assess stem cell compatibility between donor and recipient.
The Future of Stem Cells
MSCs and Very Small Embryonic-Like Stem Cells (VSELs) found in cord blood are already the subject of dozens of research projects. Both VSELs and MSCs are multipotent and capable of turning into various types of cells, making them very useful in the field of regenerative medicine.
Here’s a list of some conditions that these stem cells may treat:
- Spinal cord injuries
- Autoimmune disorders
- Type 1 Diabetes
- Lupus
- Stroke
- Cardiovascular disease
- Parkinson’s disease
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Lung cancer and Breast cancer
This article – Comprehensive Guide to Cord Blood Banking Part 6 looks at the potential uses for umbilical cord blood stem cells in the future.
We hope you find all information from our Cord Blood Banking 101 posts informative and helpful! Here are the links to the previous posts if you want to go back and read them again:
- Cord Blood Banking 101: What Expectant Parents Should Know Part 1
- Cord Blood Banking 101: What Expectant Parents Should Know Part 2
If you have any questions or would like to speak to a cord blood banking specialist, feel free to call us on +971 4 3116613 or send us an email.
{{cta(‘7d7cc8da-ed20-48a8-8ef3-e2429767260f’)}}