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A Potential Lifesaver for Expenctant Moms

By Chloe Dowley
Learning & Life Columnist

In a landmark procedure in 1988, stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood were successfully transplanted into a 5-year old boy with Fanconi anemia, a life-threatening blood disease. This life-saving transplant proved that cord blood stem cells could be used in place of those stem cells derived from bone marrow - cells that for more than thirty years have been used to treat a variety of serious illnesses including cancer, leukemia, and various genetic disorders.

Cord Blood Provides an Important Source of Stem Cells

The implications of this initial cord blood transplant is a significant scientific discovery. Potentially life-saving stem cells, which historically have been difficult to obtain, now appear to be more accessible through the collection of cord blood.

Cord blood contains hematopoietic stem cells, and these stem cells are unique in their ability to develop into three types of blood cells. This ability renders them suitable to treat a variety of blood diseases. Prior to the discovery of hematopoietic stem cells in cord blood, such cells were available only through bone marrow transplants - a procedure that can be complicated and painful.

Additionally, many patients in need of stem cell transplants have difficulty finding a suitable donor. For a stem cell transplant to be successful, the donor must be an identical match to the patient, and finding a suitable match is often a long process with no assurance that a donor will be found in time to benefit the patient.

According to the National Marrow Donor Program, about 30 percent of patients in need of a stem cell transplant are unable to find a suitable donor. Traditionally regarded as the best source of potential matches, siblings provide only a 25 percent chance of an identical match. The pool of suitable donors for ethnic and racial minorities is even smaller.

How Cord Blood Stem Cells Can Help Your Child

Complications associated with obtaining suitable stem cells from unrelated and related donors have led to greater interest in cord blood storage. In recent years, cord blood banking has become an option that increasing numbers of expectan parents are considering.

With cord blood banking, parents gain an additional layer of assurance that their children will have access to stem cells which may be used in the treatment of a variety of hematologic, oncologic or genetic disorders.

Darlene and Joseph Davis benefited from having the option available to them. In 1999, Ms. Davis gave birth to a boy with sickle cell anemia whose condition merited a stem cell transplant. During their year-long search, the Davis' were unable to find a suitable stem cell donor.

A year later Darlene became pregnant again, and her baby was identified as a perfect match for Joseph Jr. A cord blood bank collected and stored the cord blood after the delivery of their second child, and the blood was later transplanted into Joseph Jr., saving his life.

How Cord Blood is Collected and Stored

The procedure used to collect cord blood is simple, painless, and poses no health risk to the mother or baby. The umbilical cord is cut after the baby is born, and the cord blood is drawn and delivered to a cord blood bank, where it is usually stored in liquid nitrogen.

Additional Advantages of Using Cord Blood for Stem-cell Transplants

The probability of encountering graft-versus-host disease and other opportunistic infections associated with bone marrow stem cell transplants appears to be lower in cord blood transplants. Additionally, cord blood provides a source of stem cells that are rarely contaminated with latent viruses, which is another risk of stem cells drawn from bone marrow.

While the advantages of cord blood transplants have been documented, there are a few areas in which the science of cord blood transplantation is not yet conclusive. It is unclear the degree to which cord blood transplants may be beneficial to adult patients.

Generally, the number of stem cells derived from an umbilical cord is fewer than what is needed to repopulate bone marrow in adults. Additionally, the extent to which cord blood transplants pose a risk of relapse compared to bone marrow transplants is not yet fully understood.

In short, cord blood banking may offer some expectant parents more options with regard to the medical treatment of their children.

"Having the choice of cord blood banking and transplantation," Ms. Davis notes, "gave me piece of mind and a feeling of greater control over the treatment of my child." Her son Joseph Jr. is now alive because of a breakthrough in medical science. Cord blood banking may very well play a large lifesaving role in the future.

About the Author
Chloe Dowley is a teacher and freelance writer. She holds a B.A. in education and sociology from Swarthmore College.

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