Your baby’s umbilical cord is made of tissue and contains blood. The powerful cells inside the blood and tissue are collectively referred to as newborn stem cells. Expecting families can choose to preserve their baby’s cord blood and cord tissue for potential future medical uses. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that may provide families with more treatment options in the future, especially as science progresses.

What is cord blood and how could cord blood be used today?

Cord blood from your baby’s umbilical cord is a rich source of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), which have the potential to become any of the cells that make up our blood and immune systems.

Cord blood has been used for over 30 years in stem cell transplants¹ and can be used to treat over 80 conditions.² To date over 45,000 stem cell transplants have been performed globally, using cord blood from both public and private family banks.³

Some examples of the conditions being treated today using cord blood in transplant medicine include blood disorders like sickle cell anemia and beta thalassemia, immune disorders like severe combined immunodeficiency disorders, cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, and rare inherited metabolic disorders like Hurler syndrome and Tay Sachs disease. Families with special circumstances, such as those with a diagnosis in their family potentially treatable with newborn stem cells, may especially benefit from family preservation.

What is cord tissue?

Cord tissue is a segment of your baby’s umbilical cord that is a rich source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which have the potential to form connective tissue such as bone, cartilage, and tendon.

How could newborn stem cells be used in the future?

Regenerative medicine is an area of medicine that aims to replace or regenerate cells, tissues, or organs to help restore function to the body.⁴ Cell-based therapies using multiple cell types found in umbilical cord blood and cord tissue show promise as tools in this field and may be one of the next breakthroughs in healthcare. Cord blood and cord tissue are being investigated in regenerative medicine for many conditions^,5,6,7 some include common conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, organ repair, stroke, and spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy and autism.

Can I do both delayed cord clamping and newborn stem cell collection?

Generally, yes, delayed cord clamping and newborn stem cell collection can be achieved through planning and communication with your doctor or midwife. Delayed cord clamping does not affect the ability to collect cord tissue.

How are newborn stem cells collected?

Collection is non-invasive to both the mother and the baby. The cord blood is collected after the baby has been delivered and the cord is clamped and cut. The cord blood and tissue are shipped to a laboratory where the cells are processed and cryogenically frozen. Once properly frozen, current research suggests these stem cells should be able to be preserved indefinitely.⁸

What are the options for preserving newborn stem cells?

As expecting parents, you have options for what to do with their newborn’s stem cells. Knowing your options and what each one means will help you make the best choice for your family.

Donating your newborn’s cord blood to a public bank will help increase the national supply of cord blood stem cell samples available to patients who need a transplant, but it is unlikely that the cord blood you donate would be available to your family in the future if needed. In most cases, donation is possible only if your delivering hospital has a program affiliated with a public cord blood bank. Currently, public banks do not offer the option to donate cord tissue.

Family banking, or private banking, is when you choose to preserve your newborn’s stem cells for exclusive use by your family (first and second degree relatives). Families with special circumstances, such as those with a diagnosis in their family potentially treatable with newborn stem cells, may especially benefit from family preservation. One of the best things about family banking is that there is nationwide availability. No matter where you live or whether you are delivering at a hospital, birthing center, or doing a home birth, as long as there is a medical professional present to perform the collection, you have the option to participate in family banking with the option to store cord blood or cord blood and cord tissue. With family preservation, there are initial costs for processing and thereafter a yearly storage fee.

Choosing neither of the options described means your baby’s cord blood and tissue will be discarded at the hospital after birth.

Selecting a newborn stem cell bank.

When you are choosing a family bank, there are a few key factors to consider.

Experience – Since 1992, families have entrusted Cord Blood Registry® (CBR®) to store more than 1,000,000 cord blood and cord tissue samples.⁹ CBR is the most recommended newborn stem cell preservation company by OB/GYNs.¹⁰

Peace of Mind – CBR’s lab and storage facility is located in sunny Tucson, AZ, which is historically at a low risk for natural disasters. CBR has a 750kw generator and two 9,000 gallon liquid nitrogen tanks onsite to ensure continuity in the event of a power outage or other emergency.

Expertise – CBR has a team of Clinical Specialists to answer your clinical questions about newborn stem cells, your family’s health history, and clinical trials. This team, along with their stem cell release team, has coordinated over 700 cord blood sample releases to date for CBR families.

Quality – As part of CBR’s Quality Standard, every cord blood and cord tissue sample is tested for certain quality metrics and CBR will alert you if the results do not meet our quality thresholds.

What is the process?

CBR’s process is simple. Enroll with CBR by visiting cordblood.com/enroll or by calling 1.833.437.1874. You’ll receive a collection kit from CBR after enrollment. The collection kit contains everything needed for cord blood and cord tissue collection. Take the kit to your delivery and hand it over to your provider to perform the collection. After delivery, call the medical courier using the number on the outside of the kit and they will pick up the collection kit. The medical courier will transport the collection kit to our lab in Tucson, AZ.

 

Additional resources
To learn more about cord blood banking, visit the resources below.
* [Cord Blood Registry]
* [Parents Guide to Cord Blood Foundation]
* [Be The Match]

 

1. Zhu X, Tang B, Sun Z. Umbilical cord blood transplantation: Still growing and improving. Stem Cells Transl Med. 2021;10 Suppl 2(Suppl 2):S62-S74. doi:10.1002/sctm.20-0495. 2. Mayani, H., Wagner, J.E. & Broxmeyer, H.E. Cord blood research, banking, and transplantation: achievements, challenges, and perspectives. Bone Marrow Transplant 55, 48–61 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-019-0546-9. 3. Wagner JE. Cord blood 2.0: state of the art and future directions in transplant medicine. Blood Res. 2019 Mar;54(1):7-9. doi:10.5045/br.2019.54.1.7. Epub 2019 Mar 21. PMID: 30956957; PMCID: PMC6439299. 4.Regenerative Medicine. AABB. Retrieved from: https://www.aabb.org/news-resources/resources/cellular-therapies/facts-about-cellular-therapies/regenerative-medicine. 5. U.S National Library of Medicine. ClinicalTrials.gov. Accessed October 21, 2022.https://clinicaltrials.gov/. 6. Verter, F., Couto, P. S., & Bersenev, A. (2018). A dozen years of clinical trials performing advanced cell therapy with perinatal cells. Future Science OA, 4(10). doi: 10.4155/fsoa-2018-0085. 7. Torre P, Flores AI. Current Status and Future Prospects of Perinatal Stem Cells. Genes (Basel). 2020 Dec 23;12(1):6. doi: 10.3390/genes12010006. PMID: 33374593; PMCID: PMC7822425. 8. Broxmeyer HE, Luchsinger LL, Weinberg RS, et al. Insights into highly engraftable hematopoietic cells from 27-year cryopreserved umbilical cord blood [published online ahead of print, 2023 Oct 26]. Cell Rep Med. 2023;101259. 9. Internal data on file. 10. Blind survey, Egg Strategy, 10/19, funded by CBR.