Myth or Reality?
MYTH: A sick child could never use its own stored UCB sample (autologous transplantation)
REALITY: The above is actually true only for genetically inherited diseases, which can be diagnosed in a prenatal level (e.g. b-thalassaemia). In a child with b-thalassaemia, autologous transplantation is not an option. On the other hand though, there have been several cases where stem cells from a sibling were used for this reason. The vast majority of the UCB stem cell treatable diseases are not genetically inherited. The Hellenic Organization for Transplantations reported that nearly 57,5% of the bone marrow transplantations that have taken place in Greece (2002) were autologous. The first successful autologous transplantation using a UCB unit was in 2001 in Europe. The patient was a 10-month old infant with retinoblastoma. Furthermore, in 2007, the first autologous transplantation against juvenile leukemia took place.
Click here for a complete list of autologous transplantations.
MYTH: UCB units can be used multiple times.
REALITY: Stem cells may have extraordinary abilities but they are very rare. Their usual rate in umbilical cord blood is merely 0,1-0,5%. Thus, freezing stem cells in separate vials (cryovials) is pointless, because usually a sample contains just enough stem cells for a single use (maybe even 2 uses in extremely rare circumstances).There is absolutely no public cord blood bank that stores units in cryovials for the fore mentioned reason.
MYTH: All UCB samples are suitable for cryopreservation
REALITY: For a transplant to be satisfactory, the stem cell count should be as high as possible. This is relative to the volume of the collected cord blood. The collection procedure in rather simple, but in some cases (due to physiological reasons or labor conditions) the minimum required collection is not accomplished. Internationally 20-50% of the collected samples are being rejected for this reason. Cell proliferation is promising but still in a clinical trial level. The obstetricians should try to collect at least 60-80 ml of cord blood and cord blood banks should properly inform parents about the actual possibilities of their samples.
