Dear Doctors: My fiance and I plan to have kids someday. I was wondering if it would be beneficial to keep our babies’ umbilical cords, which would be full of stem cells. We would like to know how that works and if there are already uses for cord blood. Can it help with Type 1 diabetes?
Dear Reader: The term “cord blood” refers to the fetal blood that remains in the placenta and the umbilical cord after a baby has been delivered. It is rich in stem cells, which are undifferentiated cells with two unique properties. Specialized cells, such as blood, nerve or muscle cells, do not normally replicate. Stem cells, by contrast, can self-renew over a long period of time. The other thing that sets stem cells apart is their potential to become specialized cells.
The stem cells contained in umbilical cord blood are known as hematopoietic, or blood-forming stem cells. These are the same cells contained in bone marrow. Hematopoietic cells have the ability to turn into any of the three specialized types of blood cells: white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. White blood cells are a crucial component of the immune system. They fight off foreign invaders and help with tissue repair. Red blood cells, which are part of the circulatory system, deliver oxygen to cells throughout the body and carry away carbon dioxide. Platelets are cell fragments that form clots and stop bleeding.
The stem cells found in cord blood are used to treat a range of blood diseases, blood cancers, certain genetic disorders and some immune system disorders. At this time, stem cells from cord blood are not used in the management of Type 1 diabetes. However, researchers do see this as a promising avenue of inquiry. The disease arises because immune cells attack and destroy the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Studies are exploring how hematopoietic cells might be used to reprogram the immune system glitch that causes the disease.
The process of saving cord blood begins several months before the birth with an important decision. Will you use a private or a public cord blood bank? A private cord blood bank freezes the blood and stores it for the family’s exclusive use. These facilities charge an annual fee, which can be costly. Some families choose to donate their baby’s cord blood for use in research, or to be used to help other patients. In those cases, the blood goes to a public cord blood bank, and there are no additional fees.
Once a decision to bank the blood has been made, the mother is screened for infectious or genetic diseases that might be communicated to anyone receiving the stem cells. After the baby has been delivered, the umbilical cord is clamped and about 2 to 3 ounces of the blood it contains are collected. The blood is then transferred to a specially prepared bag and sent to the designated cord blood bank for storage.
The decision to save cord blood is highly personal. It is advisable to talk it over with your family and with a health care provider.
(Send your questions to askthedoctors@mednet.ucla.edu, or write: Ask the Doctors, c/o UCLA Health Sciences Media Relations, 10960 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1955, Los Angeles, CA, 90024. Owing to the volume of mail, personal replies cannot be provided.)
