Advantages & Disadvantages Of Cord Blood Banking: Everything You Need To Know
Your body is capable of doing the unimaginable! Not sure how? Well, take your rhythmic heartbeats, air-pumping lungs, or even the largest organ of the body - your skin! Every part of your body is carefully curated and is made up of cells - the basic building blocks of all living organisms.
In fact, who would have thought that some micro-sized cells - invisible to the naked eye - could be capable of treating a wide-range of medical disorders1! Yes, we’re indeed talking about stem cells! Or, to be more specific, umbilical cord blood-derived stem cells. These cells have lately been taking the scientific world by storm, all thanks to its amazing potential for treating many medical conditions.2 However, some out there are still not convinced about the safety of banking and using cord blood stem cells. Thus, in order to address these concerns and highlight the vast benefits associated with these cells, we’ve put together this blog on the advantages and disadvantages of cord blood banking.
Let us begin by getting a brief understanding of the umbilical cord first.
What Is An Umbilical Cord?
A tube-like structure, the umbilical cord connects the fetus to the mother inside the womb. It helps in delivering oxygen and nutrients from the mother to the baby and also helps in removing waste products found in fetal circulation through the maternal circulation.3 The umbilical cord and placenta are often discarded as medical waste soon after childbirth. However, the blood within the umbilical cord (popularly called cord blood) is rich in hematopoietic stem cells, because of its ability to transform into any types of blood cells.4
In order to reap the benefits of the umbilical cord blood stem cells, these blood cells are harvested from the cord after it is cut following the delivery of the baby. This simple collection process is safe and does not harm the baby or the mother.
Let us now understand a little more about stem cells before talking about the advantages and disadvantages of cord blood banking .
What Are Stem Cells?
Also called master cells, stem cells are ‘unspecialized’ or ‘immature’ cells. This means that they have the capability to further develop into any specialized or mature blood cells to treat the disease that a person has been suffering from.5
Umbilical cord blood stem cells are currently approved for treatment of around 90+ blood related conditions.6 This means that it can be used only in conditions that affect the blood system. Thus, if you’re considering storing your baby’s stem cells, here are some advantages and disadvantages of cord blood banking that you must know.7, 8
Advantages Of Umbilical Cord Blood Banking
- It’s simple and safe to harvest the stem cells from umbilical cord blood - posing no risk to the mother and baby
- Long-term cryopreservation ability for stem cell storage
- Cord blood stem cells are readily available for use
- Rich source of hematopoietic stem cells that can treat a wide range of diseases
- Cord blood stem cells are immunologically naive and hence unlike other sources which warrant a full match, even a 75% matched cord blood from a donor may be feasible to facilitate a transplantation
- It is a reliable alternative for patients who don’t find a complete stem cell match with their siblings
- High proliferative capacity that can form large colonies of stem cells
- Low likelihood of transmission of clinically important infections during transplantations
- Low risk of graft-versus-host disease (a medical condition that occurs when transplanted stem cells attack the recipient).
Disadvantages Of Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells & LifeCell’s Community Banking To The Rescue!
| Disadvantages Of Cord Blood Stem Cells | LifeCell’s Community Banking To The Rescue! |
|---|---|
| Cord blood may not contain a sufficient number of stem cells, which means that adults needing a transplant will require cord blood stem cells from multiple donors. | (a) Double unit cord blood transplantation helps to circumvent the challenges posed by the low number of cells in a single unit of cord blood. (b) Expanded stem cells, like Gamida Cell’s Omisirge (expanded cord blood stem cells), are approved by the FDA and help overcome the challenge of insufficient stem cell volume in a single unit of cord blood. |
| All the collected cord blood units may not meet the criteria for storage (due to insufficient volume or low stem cell count). | (a) Clients who sign-up for LifeCell’s Community Banking program are eligible for the benefits even if their own baby's cord blood sample does not qualify the criteria to move in the LifeCell Registry. (b) Also, due to any medical reasons wherein the baby’s own cord blood sample could not be collected / not sufficient, even then they get continued protection under the Community Banking program. |
| Compared to bone marrow stem cells, cord blood stem cells take longer time for engraftment. | We provide a ready-to-use source of cord blood stem cells. Various clinical trials are currently ongoing, and some have also been approved (like Gamida Cell’s Omisirge) to expand cord blood stem cells, thereby helping to overcome the challenge of slower engraftment time. |
| Cord blood is collected and harvested only by privatized organizations where parents have to pay a fee for storing cord blood and also limits the access only to members. | While Public Cord Blood Banking is the best way to serve the larger population, the Community Banking Program is a more economically sustainable business model that can provide much larger benefits to the patients compared to conventional public banks. |
Now that you have a fair idea of the main advantages and disadvantages of cord blood banking, you ought to have understood the benefits of banking your baby’s cord blood at birth. However, it is worth observing that cord blood is best stored in a public or community bank like LifeCell’s Stem Cell Community Bank rather than a private bank. Why so? Let’s answer this question in the following section!
Why Choose Community Stem Cell Banking Over Private Banking?
The stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood are often banked (stored) in a private or public bank. However, autologous (one’s own) stem cells cannot be used to treat almost 90% of approved blood related medical disorders today. This is because the stem cells from an affected individual will harbor the mutation for the same genetic condition and therefore isn’t fit for use.7
In fact, private banking is only recommended when a direct family member (the baby’s biological parents or siblings) is suffering from a condition treatable by allogeneic stem cells. Nonetheless, in these cases too, it’s necessary for the related donor to be unaffected, and HLA-matched with the patient. The lifetime probability of a baby using its own stored (banked) cord blood stem cells is less than 0.04% and hence this model is discouraged by medical bodies and stem cell transplantation experts in India and globally.
Furthermore, cord blood from a single donor may not be sufficient for transplant in adults. Therefore, the chances of a cord blood unit stored in a public bank has a 100 times greater chance of being used than when it’s stored in a private bank.7
It is also worth noting that retrieving stem cells from a public bank can be more expensive than accessing it from a Community Bank like LifeCell’s BabyCord. In fact, we also provide an inbuilt insurance of Rs 20 Lacs to our patients seeking a stem cell transplant to offset their medical expenses.
To know more about our unmatched features, you may also give our blog Why Choose Community Banking Over Others a read.
Wrapping Up
While today umbilical cord blood stem cells may have treatment approval only in one particular area of disease (blood system), it needs to be noted that scientists continue to explore more treatment possibilities with cord blood stem cells. As of now, they are also being explored to find treatment opportunities for various diseases including Type I Diabetes and cerebral palsy.9
Umbilical cord blood stem cells offer immense life-saving potential and many more benefits compared to other sources of stem cells, most of which are discussed under the advantages and disadvantages of cord blood banking section explained above. If you would like to know more about the infinite potential of cord blood-derived stem cells, give the blogs listed below a go. You can also call us at 1800 266 55 33 to know more about our Community Stem Cell Banking Program and why you should consider it.
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