July is Cord Blood Awareness Month! As an expecting parent Bradley Chubb Jersey , it is important for you to know the facts about cord blood before you look further into how cord blood banking could help protect your child's health in the future. Here are 10 cord blood facts to help you get started:
Preserving your child umbilical cord blood stem cells is risk-free and does not cause any pain to the mother or child. After the baby is delivered, the umbilical cord detaches from the wall of the placenta. After being clamped, the cord is cut and normally the umbilical cord would be discarded. Instead of discarding the cord, the cord blood is extracted Phillip Lindsay Jersey , processed in a laboratory and cryogenically preserved.
Umbilical cord stem cells are free of any ethical controversies 鈥?it is simply collecting the biological material that was previously discarded as medical waste.
Another important cord blood fact is that, many doctors have been using the stem cells from umbilical cord blood to treat patients for more than 25 years. In that time, there have been more than 30,000 cord blood stem cell transplants performed worldwide.
Stem cells from umbilical cord blood are already used to treat nearly 80 different illnesses including various blood disorders Joe Flacco Jersey , cancers, immune disorders and metabolic disorders.
Some of the illnesses successfully treated with umbilical cord stem cells include:
Hunter Syndrome (MPS-II) and Hurler Syndrome (MPS-IH)
Neuroblastoma
Adenosine Deaminase Deficiency (SCID)
To assess the compatibility of stem cells between donor and recipient, a HLA matching test is performed. The test looks at the Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) present on cells. In simple terms, HLA is a protein that helps cells understand if a new cell entering the body should be accepted or rejected.
Some of the stem cells found within umbilical cord blood are multipotent. That means they have the ability to transform into a number of different kinds of cells. Scientists have discovered ways of 鈥榩rompting鈥?cord blood stem cells to turn into cells neural cells, cardiac cells, skin cells and many more types of cells. That is why scientists believe cord blood stem cells have a wide range of potential uses.
Umbilical cord blood contains a wide variety of different stem cells including (Taro Matsumoto John Elway Jersey , 2009):
Haematological Stem Cells (HSC)
Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs)
Very Small Embryonic-Like Stem Cells (VSELs)
Unrestricted somatic stem cells (USSCs)
Endothelial-colony forming cells (ECFCs)
Neuronal progenitor cells
Multilineage progenitor cells (ML-PCs)
Researchers are only just beginning to understand the medicinal capabilities of many of these stem cells.
The stem cells from umbilical cord blood are an autologous match with child they came from. That means there is no risk of rejection after being transplanted, unlike stem cells that come from another donor. That makes you child own cord blood stem cells particularly valuable. Umbilical cord stem cells have a 50% chance they will match the parents of the child and a 25% chance they will match the siblings. Learn more about the importance of saving your child's umbilical cord blood stem cells here
In most cases it is a good thing for a person to have their autologous stem cells preserved. However, if a person is suffering from a genetic condition, their own stem cells may carry the same genetic flaw. That is when they need stem cells from a close relative like a parent or sibling. Parents often save the cord blood stem cells from all of their children for this reason.
There are currently more than a dozen clinical trials underway in the field of regenerative medicine, looking at using cord blood stem cells to treat medical conditions including: heart disease, blindness Throwback Denver Broncos Jerseys , spinal cord injuries, autism, cerebral palsy, Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and hearing loss. Researchers believe they may be able to use stem cells to regrow tissue and repair organs.
Most current medical treatments use haematological stem cells (HSCs). Umbilical cord blood was often refined to maximise the number of viable HSCs and make it easier to access HSCs immediately if they were needed. A process called volume reduction was used to remove other material from the samples.
Now that more parents are learning about the potential of regenerative medicine Authentic Denver Broncos Jerseys , they prefer to preserve as many stem cells as possible. This is achieved through 鈥渨hole cord blood storage鈥?where the umbilical cord blood is preserved close to its natural state. Umbilical cord tissue can also be preserved, to maximise the amount of stem cells available.
There are fewer side effects when using umbilical cord blood stem cells as opposed to bone marrow stem cells. They are also more resistant to infection and require fewer transplant drugs than stem cells from other sources. Learn more about why umbilic