What is it?
This involves preserving blood taken from an infant’s umbilical cord during childbirth for future use to combat against a whole range of fatal conditions including several types of cancers, genetic disorders, and neurodegenerative conditions. Usually an expectant mother who is interested in the process has to contact a cord blood bank within the 34th week of her pregnancy. Such banks can be both public and private. A public bank would typically collect your baby’s blood, put it through the standard testing procedures to identify any abnormalities in the blood and ultimately put it in their storage removing any identification link that would have otherwise helped you trace the collected sample as your baby’s. So, in essence, if you decide to donate your baby’s cord blood to charity you might think of giving it to a public bank. However, if you want to preserve it for your own family’s health needs, you might consider approaching a private bank. Although private banks charge a whole lot more than public banks, they ensure that you get to access your baby’s blood if the need arises.
Why it is necessary
Umbilical cord blood is collected primarily because it contains stem cells. These are special types of undifferentiated primitive cells found in all multi-cellular organisms with two unique properties that scientists have exploited to revolutionize the treatment of complex genetic diseases and cancers. One of these characteristics is its ability to multiply and proliferate for a long period of time (unlike some cells like nerve cells or muscle cells which normally do not replicate). Its other property is that while multiplying, it leads to the creation of further undifferentiated stem cells as well as highly specialized ones like white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets, and various other kinds of cells. Hence, once injected into the body of a patient, these stem cells rapidly reproduce to form other healthy cells that ultimately boost the body’s immunity and help in quick recovery.
Immature or ‘naive’ stem cells can also be harvested from other sources like a fertilized egg or an embryo. Adult stem cells can be sourced from an adult’s tissue like the bone marrow, peripheral blood (i.e., the blood that is in circulation in your body) or menstrual blood. However, while there are several ethical and political issues associated with the first two sources that render them largely unfit for harvesting stem cells. Collection of adult stem cells is also not a very preferred option since these are considered immunologically mature cells (unlike the ‘naïve’ stem cells) which often lead to heightened chances of rejection by the patient’s immune system due to a mismatch. Hence, doctors depend heavily on umbilical cord blood for stem cell generation as this blood is a rich source of immature stem cells and there are significantly less controversies surrounding this practice.
How is it done?
The umbilical cord blood is collected within 10 minutes of childbirth. The process is completely painless. As soon as the baby comes out of the mother’s womb, the doctors insert syringes into the umbilical cord and the discarded placenta to collect the blood into a small pouch. This pouch is then sealed and sent off to the concerned stem cell bank. There the blood undergoes several tests to check for diseases like HIV and Hepatitis B & C and then the stem cells are extracted. The sample is then slowly frozen and finally stored in liquid nitrogen tanks at a temperature of -196 degree Celsius. Theoretically , the stem cells can be preserved in this way indefinitely but since its been only a couple of decades since research has started in this field, scientists cannot claim for exactly how long the storage will remain effective. However, blood preserved in this way for 10-15 years has been used in successfully treating several conditions so far.
There are several public and private stem cell banks in India and parents interested in the procedure might visit the following links for further detailed information:
http://www.jeevan.org/stemcell/index.html/ (public bank) http://www.lifecellinternational.com/Default.aspx (private bank), http://www.cryobanksindia.com/ (functions as both public and private bank),
What to keep in mind
Opting for a private bank can be a very expensive affair, with costs ranging upto more than Rs. 1 lakh.
People usually consider going in for umbilical cord blood banking if there are known cases of genetic disorders or cancers or other diseases in one’s family that can be effectively treated by bone marrow transplants.
A major drawback of this type of stem cell banking is that the quantity of blood collected from the cord is simply not adequate for transfusion in a young adult or even a child.
Moreover, it is also not clear whether stem cells collected from one’s own umbilical cord is more effective than that collected from a non related donor since umbilical cord blood cells are highly adaptable and less likely to be rejected by the patient’s immune system thus eliminating the need for an exact match between donor and patient stem cell type.
Also sometimes the cord blood of apparently healthy kids might contain abnormal cells. When these kids develop the disease later on in their lives, they cannot be treated with the same blood and neither can any of their relatives be treated with it ever.
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—About our writer:
Ananya Misra is a final year MBA(Marketing) student of IBS,Hyderabad. Her favourite pastime involves writing poems and penning down her thoughts on anything that leaves a lasting imprint on her mind. Nature photography, music and movies are her other interests. She is currently based in Hyderabad.
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