The miracle of birth may be more encompassing than you'd expect. Ever since a 6 year old boy with Fanconi anemia was treated successfully with cord blood in 1988, many parents have opted to collect umbilical cord blood from their newborns. Collecting cord blood is one of the most exciting developments in modern medicine, so let's take a closer look into umbilical cord blood and the opportunities that arise.
Why Umbilical Cord Blood?
The general public may be primed to relate cord blood collection to just another opportunity alongside blood drives to collect the essential body fluid for those in need. If unfamiliar, you will likely be surprised that cord blood can be used as a source of stem cells. That's right, you've heard of these seemingly magical cells coming from our bone marrow, but an almost identical type of stem cells can be sourced from the beginning of life!
Cord blood is a source of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), a population of cells that can regenerate to form red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Oh, the opportunities! The FDA reports that cord blood can be used to treat leukemias and lymphomas, "as well as certain disorders of the blood and immune systems, such as sickle cell disease and Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome."¹ Other advantages of cord blood include its thorough regulation, inspection, and its widespread and generally pain-free availability (bone marrow donations, in contrast, can require surgery with anesthesia.).² In addition, experts report that cord-sourced stem cells do not require a perfect human leukocyte antigen match, thereby diversifying the options of how the blood can be mixed with other samples and, of course, who can ultimately receive the life-saving donation. There is also some research to suggest that cord blood reduces the chances of an autoimmune reaction because the cord stem cells are immunologically immature (alliteration for days, my friends).²
The "Iffiness"
You can probably guess that companies try to profit off this.
Indeed, private cord blood banks attempt to lure expectant parents into storing umbilical blood at very pricey costs. The collected blood doesn't get mixed with others. The unfortunate part about this is that many of these companies will suggest that one's cord blood can treat several diseases that current research does not fully support.³ Some sell their services under the guise that "more diseases may become treatable with cord blood." Experts state that the majority of patients will likely incur greater benefit from publicly banked cord blood; transplantation of someone's own cord stem cells is likely ineffective for some diseases because of the identical genetic makeup of the cells.³ Other unsure areas surrounding the collection of umbilical cord blood include a couple blurred lines when it comes to the ownership of stored cord blood, as well as concerns of undetected genetic diseases getting transmitted.³
The Verdict: Experts have proved that cord blood can be potentially life-saving for certain diseases. With July--the "National Cord Blood Awareness Month"---around the corner, parents should be wary of private cord blood banks and consult with their healthcare providers before making any decisions related to this manner.
¹ https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/cord-blood-what-you-need-know
² https://www.nationalcordbloodprogram.org/clinicians-researchers/cord-blood-facts/
³ https://abcnews.go.com/WN/WorldNews/cord-blood-banking-marketing-medicine/story?id=10577020
I would like to thank Dr. Paul Thomas, MD for publishing a video on his YouTube channel of how a young family with an intense history of Krabbe Disease has benefited from cord blood donations.
Ezra Guttmann is a medical student. There is no medical advice on this website, and opinions on this blog are of his views only.
Comments