Cord Blood Registry - Stem Cell News - Storing Stem Cells: Some Parents Say Could Ensure Future Health

The umbilical cord blood, normally discarded at birth, contains stem cells that she and her husband decided to save in case they can help cure an illness someone in her family may develop later in life. There's no guarantee they'll ever need them, or even be able to use them if they need them, but the $1,600 they paid to have it saved is worth the gamble, she said.

"This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to save it," said Guerrero Redman of McAllen. "We buy the best for our car insurance and home, so why not our child?"

What interests Redman, other parents and scientists is that the stem cells have already shown success in treating leukemia and other serious blood disorders in patients faced with fatal illness who are unable to find a bone-marrow donor.

Research on stem cells, which continually make copies of themselves and produce other blood cells, has shown more promise in recent years, and some scientists think they could someday be widely used to help regenerate ailing organs.

Stem cells are found most commonly in bone marrow, but cord blood has caught on as a source because it is easier to harvest and doesn't require that another donor undergo surgery.

Doctors have been collecting cord blood for its stem cells for more than 10 years to store in private and public cord-blood banks, but the collections are requested by only a handful of mothers who give birth in the Rio Grande Valley, doctors said.

In addition, those who are asking want to keep it for themselves rather than donate it to a bank the public can search, making it less likely the useful stem cells will help people who need them.

Cord blood stem cells are not considered controversial in the medical community because they are taken from the umbilical cord, which is traditionally thrown away during delivery.

Embryonic stem cells are different because they must come from an embryo, which could include using an aborted fetus. Research involving embryonic stem cells cannot receive federal funding because some believe it is too closely tied to the abortion issue.

In 1995, Congress enacted a ban on giving federal funds to research in which a human embryo was created, destroyed, discarded or subject to risk greater than normal for a fetus, according to the text of the bill. The ban on funding has remained in effect since then.

The Food and Drug Administration is developing standards, but the collection and use of cord blood is still new, said Helen Ng, spokeswoman for the National Marrow Donor Program, which runs a 25,000-unit cord-blood registry.

Private banks market the decision as one that could save a child's life if they develop a disease that requires a bone-marrow transplant. If the genetically similar stem cells are there, a child or family member may be able to use them rather than try their luck on a marrow-donor registry, some doctors said.

Research with the stem cells is still in the early stages, but some scientists believe they may eventually be used to help regenerate failing organs.

"If you're a mom (or you are having a child), I would consider it," said Dr. Benito Carrera, a Brownsville OBGYN who has had three or four women in the past year save their cord blood, all for private storage. "If in the future, you can probably make an organ out of it if your baby were to need one, that would be enough for me."

People who store their cord blood for themselves are ensuring their family will have a chance for stem cells if they need them, said Rita Kennen, communications coordinator for Cord Blood Registry, a California-based company that has stored 45,000 units of cord blood since 1992.

Cord Blood Registry charges about $1,600 to collect and process the sample and an annual fee of $95 to store it.

She said research in stem cells is changing daily and could eventually lead to procedures that use stem cells to treat heart disease and other illnesses.

"Clients don't just store if they have a history of cancer, what many people store for is just for the peace of mind knowing it's there," Kennen said.

Some aren't as convinced. Dwight Brunoehler is the founder and president of Cryobanks International, a Florida company that has the distinction of being the only one that will collect cord blood anytime, from anywhere in the United States to be used in a registry others can search. The service requires some tricky logistics since the samples must arrive to his Florida office within 24 hours of birth, and be frozen for storage within 48 hours, he said.

Someone in the Valley that wants to donate cord blood to a public registry would most likely have to use Cryobanks, which pays for a courier to collect the sample, tests the blood, stores it and lists it on the registry free of charge.

While private storage may make sense for people with an immediate need for stem cells, it may be a waste of money for many people, he said.

"Those companies come along and they buy mailing lists for the pregnant moms and they (say) 'You're a bad mom if you don't do this,'" Brunoehler said. "They come along at a very emotional time, a very expensive time."

Cryobanks is a for-profit company that started near Orlando, Fla., as a sperm bank and later changed its focus to collecting cord blood. It is funded by a philanthropist and receives about $15,000 from insurance companies when someone uses its stem cells, he said. It is not profitable, largely because it is expensive to find and pay cord-blood technicians, ship at least 25 units of cord blood each day from all over the country, and maintain sophisticated equipment to test and store the cord-blood units, Brunoehler said.

Dr. Augustin Martinez is an Edinburg OBGYN who has saved an average of four cords per year since 1999, all at the patients' requests. The decision to save it is entirely up to the individual, he said, but unless a parent has another child with a disease that requires stem cells or a clear family history of such diseases, it may not be worth the cost of private storage.

The chances are slim that a child will need and be able to use his or her own stem cells, partly because those stem cells may have the same genetic deficiency that brought about the disease, and partly because many childhood blood disorders are not treated with stem cells, he said.

He would like to see more of a movement toward public banking of the cord blood so it is available for others to use, just as units of blood are available in emergencies. He said such a registry would be particularly useful for the Valley because Hispanics and other minorities have fewer potential donors on the bone-marrow registries.

"We are ready for public banking, especially for the Valley," he said.

Cryobanks lists its units on two large registries and hopes to begin listing on the National Marrow Donor Program registry in the next few months, he said.

The South Texas Blood and Tissue Center in San Antonio, where many people go to find bone-marrow donors, is trying to raise money to begin a cord-blood donation system. The registry stores cord blood for people who want to use it for themselves, but must refer people who want to donate their cord blood to another organization, said Mary Beth Fisk, vice president of tissue services and development.

She hopes to have the registry running in the next three months and will work with hospitals, health workers and expectant mothers to reach a goal of storing 3,000 units of cord blood for the registry in the next three to five years, Fisk said.

That means people in the Valley who want to donate cord blood can work through the San Antonio-based STBTC rather than asking Cryobanks to collect the cord blood.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

View News & Media Disclaimer