Cord blood banks and the use of stem cells

A cord blood bank is a facility which stores umbilical cord blood for future use. Private and public cord blood banks have mainly developed since the middle of the nineties as an answer to the use of cord blood to cure diseases of the blood and immune systems.

Cord blood is defined as the blood that remains in the placenta and umbilical cord after a baby is born. It can be very useful as it contains hematopoietic stem cells, progenitor cells that can form red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Cord blood cells are mainly used to treat blood and immune system related genetic diseases, cancers and blood disorders like diabetes or leukemia.
Stem cells are actually cells that can turn into other types of cells like skin, liver or nerve.  Umbilical cord blood stem cells are one of the most primitive types of cells actually found in the human body. They are created during the earliest phases of development and have the potential to become specialised cells such as red or white blood cells. It is these properties and the fact that the umbilical cord is a rich source of stem cells that has encouraged private cord blood bank to offer frozen storage of these cells from umbilical cord blood.
Most private cord blood banks provide an opportunity for donors to store their children’s cord blood somewhere safe. This is done in the hope that if their child becomes ill with a stem cell treatable disease, there would be a perfectly matched piece available to them that would simply save their lives. For this service, they tend to charge an up-front collection fee and then typically charge a yearly rate for on-going storage of the cord blood unit in their facility. The collection of umbilical cord blood is a safe process that is very easy and absolutely painless for the mother or the new born baby.

In spite of the cost of storage and slim chances of ever needing stem cells from cord blood, private cord blood banks guarantee a person the chance to have perfectly matched stem cells stored for future use which is something not to neglect. We also do not know what the cord blood could be used for in the future.

Nowadays, thousands of stem cell transplants using the person’s own cells are performed every year for leukemia, lymphoma, many solid tumors and myeloma. The latest research show that even with early-onset disease, the child’s stem cells are recommended for use in transplantation.