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Umbilical cord blood contains stem cells that can develop into many different parts of the human body to treat diseases, and it has a lower recipient rejection rate--especially among family members--than bone marrow or adult stem cells. When a baby is born, cord blood can be taken and stored for transplantation into family members, or donated for public use and medical research. Either way, cord blood banking has the potential to benefit many families.
Definition
Cord blood is collected from a newborn baby's umbilical cord and the placenta at birth. It is put into a sanitized collection kit and stored.
Use
Cord blood contains stem cells that can develop into any type of tissue or organ and contribute to the immune system. This makes it promising as a treatment for leukemia, lymphoma and a variety of inherited diseases, especially among the baby's close family members.
Advantages
Cord blood cells can be used the way bone marrow and adult stem cells are used to treat disease, but are less likely to trigger rejection from the recipient's immune system and are far easier to harvest than bone marrow.
Storage
A family can pay collection and annual storage fees to have a baby's cord blood stored in a private blood bank for that family's exclusive future use. The blood can also be donated without charge to a public blood bank to make it available to anyone who needs a cord blood transplant or for medical research into stem cell therapies.
Compatibility
Cord blood stem cells are safer for many recipients than adults stem cells because, to lower the risk of transplant rejection, adult stem cell donors and recipients must have 10 of 12 human leukocyte antigens that match (83 percent). Cord blood donors and recipients need to have only four of six matching antigens (67 percent).
Source:
American Pregnancy Association
Parents' Guide to Cord Blood Foundation
National Bone Marrow Donor Program
Resource:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation
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