Umbilical cord blood experts pitch for expanding pool base

A city-based umbilical cord blood bank has created a facility which will allow its members access to other best matched samples rather than just their own, for treatment of haematological disorders.
An umbilical cord is a flexible cord-like structure containing blood vessels which attaches foetus to the placenta during gestation.
CelluGen, the owner of the facility, held a press conference today to educate the public about the need for banking umbilical cord, and doctors and researchers from the field discussed how the precious resource can revolutionise the treatment of haematological disorders in the country.
Private stem cell banks have been growing in India with parents investing huge amounts annually to protect their newborn from blood-related disorders, S P Yadav, Pediatric Haematologist at Medanta Hospital said.

"The fact is that the possibility of utilising one's own umbilical cord blood (UCB) for transplant in blood-related disorders is less than 5 per cent. This futility of storage of UCB for self-use is well recognised by the medical fraternity today.
"To make umbilical cord blood stem cell transplants a viable option, accessing another person's cord blood (allogenic) is the best solution," he said.

Umbilical Cord Blood Transplant (UCBT) has gained popularity as an efficacious treatment modality for various malignant and non-malignant haematological disorders.
The first successful UCBT was done in France in 1988. More than 35,000 successful cord blood transplants have since been performed worldwide, Founder-Director, CelluGen Biotech, Lalit Jaiswal said.

"There are at least 142 public and 25 private UCB banks across the world over with three public and seven private banks located in the country. In India, insufficient quantity of just about 5000 cord blood units are available in public banks.
"The chance of obtaining a matched donor for an Indian recipient from foreign registries is meagre due to ethnicity and exorbitant cost. Till date, only 32 patients have received a transplant using related or unrelated UCB," he added.
Umbilical Cord tissue derived stem cells find potential use in treatment of various degenerative disorders of the nervous system, osteoarthritis, optic nerve atrophy, diabetes etc, to name a few, CelluGen said.