When your baby is born, the blood left inside the umbilical cord is very special. It contains powerful hematopoietic stem cells, which have a 30-year history of saving lives.
There’s also exciting research on using cord blood for regenerative medicine, which aims to harness the stem cells inside to help the body heal itself.
Cord blood banking is the process of saving the remaining blood in the umbilical cord, after birth, for potential future use.
Cord blood is well-known as a valuable source of powerful stem cells like HSCs.
HSCs are already used in the treatment of over 80 conditions of the blood and immune system as part of a stem cell transplant.
Plus, cord blood contains other potentially beneficial cells, like regulatory T cells, which are being researched in laboratory studies to see if they may be relevant for patients with autoimmune conditions like type 1 diabetes.
You’re probably familiar with bone marrow. It contains the same type of stem cells as cord blood. But cord blood is better.
As your body ages, so do your bone marrow stem cells. In contrast, your newborn’s stem cells are brand new; they haven’t been exposed to aging and harmful environmental factors.
Collecting them at birth ensures you’re saving the youngest HSCs you can while avoiding invasive and more difficult procedures to collect them from bone marrow in the future, if needed.
For the past 30 years, cord blood stem cells have been used to rebuild healthy blood and immune systems as part of a stem cell transplant.
They’ve helped more than 40,000 patients worldwide with certain cancers, blood disorders, and immune disorders as part of a stem cell transplant, from both donated and privately banked cord blood.
Researchers continue learning more about the power of cord blood stem cells—and the future looks bright.
In fact, cord blood is being researched in over 100 clinical trials around the world to help improve current applications in stem cell transplants and to investigate possible future applications in regenerative medicine.
What are they looking at? Neurological conditions like autism and cerebral palsy, cardiovascular conditions like hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and even acquired hearing loss.
Your baby’s stem cells may provide your immediate family with more options in the future.
Your baby is always a perfect genetic match to his or her cord blood stem cells. Full siblings have a 75% chance of being at least a partial genetic match. Parents are always a partial match.
In general, the stronger the match, the better the outcome. Depending on the condition being treated, a physician may look to use a child’s own stem cells or may prefer to use those from a partial or full matched donor, like a sibling.
While we can’t suspend time itself, we can stop the clock on the aging of your newborn’s stem cells.
Given all the information available today, it is believed that cord blood units in proper cryogenic storage should be able to be preserved indefinitely, protecting them from aging and environmental factors.
5 simple steps to store your newborn’s stem cells for your family.
© 2020 Blueprint Biobank.
