Stem cell banking for new born

Human body is made up of about 200 different types of cells and they can be traced back to the fertilized egg. All the cells in our body originate from stem cells. This means that, theoretically. One can convert stem cells into practically any kind of cell in the body. Some sources of stem cells include the bone marrow, umbilical cord and peripheral blood. Embryonic stem cells are derived from the very early stage of human development and have the potential to differentiate into any cell type. Currently, there are a number of ethical issues with embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cells which are derived from babies or adults, have limited potential to differentiate into specialized cells. More recently, umbilical cord blood and placenta is being identified as a rich and convenient source of stem cells. Like the bone marrow, the umbilical cord is a rich source of blood – forming stem or “haematopoietic” cells. A lot is at the development stage and the utility of the cord blood decades down the line in a person’s age is still unclear. Its role in regenerative medicine is existing and holds a lot of promise, while bone marrow stem cells transplant have been traditionally used to treat various disorders, umbilical cord blood cells offer various advantages including simplicity of collections and lesser likely hood of rejection by the recipient. The chances of graft versus host reaction using cord cells are slim to using bone marrow stem cells.

When the donor and the recipient is the same, the transplant is termed ‘Autologus’if the donor and the recipient are two different people, the transplant is called ‘Allogenic’.You may need an autologus transplant of your stored stems cells when your own healthy blood cells have been destroyed due to medical procedure such as chemitheratphy alternately you require an allogenic transfer from a ‘matched donor’ in caseof disorders of your own cells,allogenic transplants are more difficult because the donor’s stem cells need to be matched with the recipient’s for proteins called human Human lymphocyte antigens(HLAs), to stop the recipient’s body from rejecting the transplant.

The procedure is fairly straightforward. Your obstetrician will be given a cord blood collection kit from the stem cell bank of your choice. When you go in to labour someone from the stem cell bank will be present at the delivery facility to collect the sample. Your sample is then shipped to the bank under validated temperature and packaging conditions. the cell are processed and tested for infectious diseases and the cord blood sample will undergo HLA typing. After this the stem cells will be cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen at  -196^oC cryo tanks indefinitely till you need them.