The popularity of cord blood banking has dramatically increased in recent years. This has been caused by parents becoming more aware of the benefits that preserving cord blood provides. Cord blood banking allows parents to hold onto the powerful stem cells in cord blood which can be used to treat over 80 different conditions.
Many parents are also aware of the rapid progress in fields like regenerative medicine and are interested in saving their child’s stem cells for use in one of these cutting-edge treatments.
But how likely is it that your child will use their stem cells? This FAQ will answer that question and explain why the likelihood of using stem cells is increasing each year.
What kinds of diseases are treated by cord blood?
Cord blood stem cells are currently used to treat more than 80 different illnesses including:
- Blood cancers – Conditions like Acute Lymphocytic Leukaemia, Acute Myelogenous Leukaemia, Ewing Sarcoma, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Myeloid/Natural Killer Cell Precursor Acute Leukaemia, and Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
- Metabolic disorders – Metabiolic disorders like Hunter Syndrome, Hurler Syndrome, Krabbe Disease, Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome, Mannosidosis, and Maroteaux-Lamy Syndrome.
- Blood disorders – Cord blood can be used to treat Acute Myelofibrosis, Agnogenic Myeloid Metaplasia, Amyloidosis, Aplastic Anaemia, Beta Thalassemia Major, Congenital Cytopenia, and Congenital Dyserythropoietic Anemia.
- Autoimmune disorders – Cord blood stem cells can be used for Adenosine Deaminase Deficiency, Bare Lymphocyte Syndrome, Chediak-Higashi Syndrome, Chronic Granulomatous Disease, Congenital Neutropenia, DiGeorge Syndrome, Evans Syndrome, and Fucosidosis.
What are the chances that your child will use their banked cord blood?
The chances that your baby will use their banked cord blood become greater as they grow older. By the time your child is 10 years old, they will have a one in 10,000 chance of having used their own stem cells and a one in 5,000 they had to use someone else’s. However, by the time they have reached 70, the odds have dramatically reduced ― with a one in 200 chance they have used their stem cells. The chances shift so dramatically because the risk of your child having cancer or another serious illness which is treatable by stem cells increases with age.
What about other conditions?
The likelihood of a child needing their own stem cells is based upon the kinds of conditions that are currently treated with stem cells, like leukaemia and auto-immune disorders. However, this is not accurate given the many potential new uses for stem cells. Researchers are currently testing the capacity of cord blood stem cells to treat conditions like:
- Type 1 diabetes
- Kidney disease
- Congenital heart defects
- Scleroderma
- HIV/AIDS
- Cron’s disease
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Ischaemic stroke
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
- Multiple sclerosis
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Lupus
- Blindness
- Burns
- Cardiovascular Disease and many other conditions.
If cord blood stem cells is found to be effective at treating these conditions, your child’s stem cells will be more valuable and much more likely to be used.
Sources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2531159/
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