The life-saving stem cells in umbilical cords are one of medicine’s best-kept secrets. This rich, non-controversial source of stem cells has already been used to treat thousands of patients with more than 67 different diseases, including Leukemia, Sickle Cell Anemia and Hurler disease. Unfortunately, hospitals discard millions of umbilical cords each year due to a lack of infrastructure to collect and store them.
The life-saving stem cells in umbilical cords are one of medicine’s best-kept secrets. This rich, non-controversial source of stem cells has already been used to treat thousands of patients with more than 67 different diseases, including Leukemia, Sickle Cell Anemia and Hurler disease. Unfortunately, hospitals discard millions of umbilical cords each year due to a lack of infrastructure to collect and store them.
A few weeks ago, the federal government moved to create an innovative program for banking umbilical cord blood for future use for those in need. This new program will literally turn medical waste into medical miracles.
The new federal initiative is the result of a law I authored, “The Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005,” which was signed into law last December. “The Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005” authorized $265 million for the successful bone marrow registry–which allows doctors to match patients and donors for life-saving bone marrow transplants–and to establish a program to match cord blood for those in need, opening the door to potentially hundreds of cures and treatments by using the stem cells in umbilical cords. All the cord blood banks participating in the inventory program will be linked into a search system that would allow transplant physicians to search for cord blood and bone marrow matches through a single access point.
The law builds the nation’s public umbilical cord blood supply by authorizing federal funds to increase the number of cord blood units available by adding 150,000 new units to the current inventory. There will be added focus in collecting a genetically diverse cross-section of cord blood units in an effort to make matches available to 90 percent of patients in need.
“The Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005” not only will increase the medical utilization rate for this vastly under-appreciated source of stem cells, but it also promotes ethical stem cell research. All cord blood collected and deemed unsuitable for transplant will be donated for research.
Published studies have shown that cord blood stem cells have the capacity to change into other cell types, including nerve cells, heart cells and insulin-secreting cells. This ability to transform offers the potential to yield a cure for spinal-cord injuries and non-blood related diseases including Parkinson's disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease. To this date, adult stem cell research–including research using cord blood stem cells–is the only stem cell research to result in medical advancements.
Scientific advancements from cord blood stem cell research are already being practiced by medical professionals today. For instance, when cord blood research first began, the prevailing thought was that it could be used only for transplants in children and not for adults. Research has since demonstrated that cord blood can be used to treat adults, leading Nelson Chao, MD, Head of the Adult Marrow Transplant Program at Duke University, to declare “Cord blood is now ready for prime time.”
The stem cells in umbilical cord blood are indeed ready for extensive use in treatments for both children and adults, and I predict that we will see the utilization rates for cord blood skyrocket as a result of this new program. But the lives saved by cord blood won’t stop there. The investment in ethical stem cell research will undoubtedly lead to more medical uses for cord blood. This truly is stem cell therapy and research we can all get behind.