Cord Blood Banking FAQs

Cord Blood Stem Cells vs. Other Stem Cells

Umbilical cord blood stem cells are the "youngest," safely available stem cells and they are the product of another miracle - a live birth. Freezing these cells essentially stops the clock and prevents aging and damage that may occur to the cells later in life. Another source of stem cells, embryonic stem cells, has been at the heart of heated debate. Currently, embryonic stem cells are not being used to treat humans. A third category of stem cells is adult stem cells, such as those found in bone marrow. Adult stem cells serve very specialized roles in children and adults and are not as proliferative as those found in cord blood.

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Diseases Treated by Stem Cells - New Stem Cell Application

Emerging Stem Cell Applications*
Alzheimer's Disease
Diabetes
Heart Disease
Liver Disease
Muscular Dystrophy
Parkinson's Disease
Spinal Cord Injury
Stroke

* Chen, Jieli, et al. Expression of neural markers in human umbilical cord blood. Experimental Neurology.2001;171:109-115
  Pessina, A., et al. Pancreas developing markers expressed on human mononucleated umbilical cord blood cells. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications.2004;323:315-322
  Botta, Rosanna, et al. Heart infarct in NOD-SCID mice: Therapeutic vasculogenesis by transplantation of human CD34+ cells and low dose CD34+KDR+cells. The FASEB Journal.2004;18:1392-1394
  Perin, E., et al. Transendocardial, autologous bone marrow cell transplantation for severe, chronic ischemic heart failure. Circulation.2003;107:2294-2302
  Campli, C., et al. A human umbilical cord stem cell rescue therapy in a murine model of toxic liver injury. Digestive and Liver Disease.2004;36:603-613
  Gussoni, E., et al. Long term persistence of donor nuclei in a duchenne muscular dystrophy patient receiving bone marrow transplantation. The Journal of Clinical Investigation.2002;110(6):807-814
  Saporta, Samuel, et al. Human umbilical cord blood stem cells infusion in spinal cord injury: Engraftment and beneficial influence on behavior. Journal of Hematotherapy & Stem Cell Research.2003;12:271-278
  Vendrame, Martina, et al. Infusion of human umbilical cord blood cells in a rat model of stroke dose-dependently rescues behavioral deficits and reduces infarct volume. Stroke.2004;35:2390-2395.

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Diseases Treated by Stem Cells - Other Malignancies

Current Stem Cell Applications For Other Malignancies

Brain Tumors Ewing Sarcoma Neuroblastoma Ovarian Cancer Renal Cell Carcinoma Small-Cell Lung Cancer Testicular Cancer

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Diseases Treated by Stem Cells - Abnormalities

Current Stem Cell Applications For Abnormalities

Inherited Erythrocyte Abnormalities Beta Thalassemia Major Blackfan-Diamond Anemia Pure Red Cell Aplasia Sickle Cell Disease Inherited Platelet Abnormalities Amegakaryocytosis / Congenital Thrombocytopenia

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Diseases Treated by Stem Cells - Syndromes

Current Stem Cell Applications For Syndromes

Myelodysplastic Syndromes Amyloidosis Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia (CMML) Refractory Anemia (RA) Refractory Anemia with Excess Blasts (RAEB) Refractory Anemia with Excess Blasts in Transformation    (RAEB-T) Refractory Anemia with Ringed Sideroblasts (RARS)

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Diseases Treated by Stem Cells - Diseases

Current Stem Cell Applications For Diseases

Liposomal Storage Diseases Adrenoleukodystrophy Alpha Mannosidosis Gaucher's Disease Hunter's Syndrome (MPS-II) Hurler's Syndrome (MPS-IH) Krabbe Disease Maroteaux-Lamy Syndrome (MPS-VI) Metachromatic Leukodystrophy Morquio Syndrome (MPS-IV) Mucolipidosis II (I-cell Disease) Mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) Niemann-Pick Disease Sanfilippo Syndrome (MPS-III) Scheie Syndrome (MPS-IS) Sly Syndrome, Beta-Glucuronidase Deficiency (MPS-VII) Wolman Disease Autoimmune Diseases Multiple Sclerosis (experimental) Rheumatoid Arthritis (experimental) Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (experimental)

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Diseases Treated by Stem Cells - Disorders

Although not all diseases treated with stem cells have been treated specifically with cord blood stem cells, doctors have been using cord blood in lifesaving treatments since 1988. And recently, scientists have discovered some amazing new possibilities for treating diseases and injuries in the future. Current Stem Cell Applications For Disorders

Stem Cell Disorders Aplastic Anemia (Severe) Congenital Cytopenia Dyskeratosis Congenita Fanconi Anemia Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH) Myeloproliferative Disorders Acute Myelofibrosis Agnogenic Myeloid Metaplasia (Myelofibrosis) Essential Thrombocythemia Polycythemia Vera Lymphoproliferative Disorders Hodgkin's Disease Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Prolymphocytic Leukemia Phagocyte Disorders Chediak-Higashi Syndrome Chronic Granulomatous Disease Neutrophil Actin Deficiency Reticular Dysgenesis Histiocytic Disorders Familial Erythrophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis Hemophagocytosis Histiocytosis-X Langerhans' Cell Histiocytosis Congenital (Inherited) Immune System Disorders Absence of T and B Cells SCID Absence of T Cells, Normal B Cell SCID Ataxia-Telangiectasia Bare Lymphocyte Syndrome Common Variable Immunodeficiency DiGeorge Syndrome Kostmann Syndrome Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency Omenn's Syndrome Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) SCID with Adenosine Deaminase Deficiency Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome X-Linked Lymphoproliferative Disorder Other Inherited Disorders Cartilage-Hair Hypoplasia Ceroid Lipofuscinosis Congenital Erythropoietic Porphyria Glanzmann Thrombasthenia Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome Osteopetrosis Sandhoff Disease Plasma Cell Disorders Multiple Myeloma Plasma Cell Leukemia Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia

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Diseases Treated by Stem Cells - Leukemias

Although not all diseases treated with stem cells have been treated specifically with cord blood stem cells, doctors have been using cord blood in lifesaving treatments since 1988. And recently, scientists have discovered some amazing new possibilities for treating diseases and injuries in the future. Current Stem Cell Applications For Leukemia

Acute Leukemias Acute Biphenotypic Leukemia Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) Acute Undifferentiated Leukemia Chronic Leukemias Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) Juvenile Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (JCML) Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia (JMML)

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Stem Cells - How Are They Used?

Currently, stem cells are primarily used in transplant medicine to regenerate a patient's blood and immune system after they have been treated with chemotherapy and/or radiation to destroy cancer cells.

At the same time the chemotherapy and radiation destroys the cancer cells in a patient, they also destroy stem cells. Therefore, an infusion of stem cells or a stem cell transplant is performed after the chemotherapy and/or radiation treatment. The stem cells then migrate to the patient's bone marrow where they multiply and regenerate all of the cells to create a new blood and immune system for the patient.

The promise of using stem cells for medical treatments has been the focus of research projects that are showing encouraging results.

• Cord blood stem cells have been "triggered" to differentiate into neural cells, which could lead to treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
• They have also proven their ability to turn into blood vessel cells, which could some day benefit treatments for heart disease, allowing patients to essentially "grow their own bypass."

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Stem Cells - What Are They?

Stem cells are the body's "master" cells because they create all other tissues, organs, and systems in the body.  The stem cells found in cord blood are the building blocks of your blood and immune system and most readily reproduce into:

Red Blood Cells - which carry oxygen to all the cells in the body
White Blood Cells - which fight infection
Platelets - which aid in clotting in the event of injury

There are three sources where stem cells are commonly found, they are:

Bone Marrow
Peripheral Blood (the blood that circulates through your body)
Umbilical Cord Blood

The ability of cord blood stem cells to differentiate, or change into other types of cells in the body is a new discovery that holds significant promise for improving the treatment of some of the most common diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer's.

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Cord Blood - What Is It?

Cord blood, which is also called "placental blood," is the blood that remains in the umbilical cord and placenta following birth and after the cord is cut. Cord blood is routinely discarded with the placenta and umbilical cord.

Your baby's umbilical cord blood is a valuable source of stem cells, which are genetically unique to your baby and family.

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