Cord blood offers hope to treat, cure diseases

BY BETH WHITEHOUSE | beth.whitehouse@newsday.com

Umbilical cord blood contains stem cells that have the ability to rebuild the blood and immune system.

When saved after birth, the blood can be used in matched siblings to treat nearly 40 diseases, including leukemia and blood disorders such as Diamond Blackfan anemia.

The cord is drained of its blood, which is put into a thick plastic bag similar to those used to collect blood at blood drives. A courier then picks up the package from the hospital and transports it to a storage facility, where it is frozen until needed.

If not preserved, the umbilical cord with its potent blood is thrown away, considered medical waste.

Scientists also are studying ways cord blood could be used to treat Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, heart disease, stroke, spinal cord injuries, diabetes, muscular dystrophy, and for nerve and tissue regeneration.

"That's because cord blood also contains other stem cells that reach beyond the blood and immune systems," said Morey Kraus, chief technology officer of ViaCell Inc., the parent company of ViaCord, one of the nation's largest cord-blood banking services. ViaCell is based in Cambridge, Mass.

A baby's umbilical cord blood is sometimes used to help that baby, or even a parent, Kraus said. If matched closely enough to an unrelated child's blood, it also could be used to help that person. The federal government has helped fund the National Cord Blood Program where families can search for a potential donor, similar to the nationwide bone marrow registry that exists for adults willing to donate bone marrow.

Umbilical cord stem cells are not the same as embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells come from a fertilized embryo that is never implanted in a woman's uterus. Private embryonic stem cell research is legal, but the U.S. government currently won't fund such research with public dollars. Embryonic stem cell research is controversial because to gain access to the cells, the embryo is destroyed. This is unacceptable to people who believe that life begins at conception.