Why Bank Your Newborn’s Stem Cells?
Cord blood and cord tissue banking is a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to be prepared for the future of medicine. Umbilical cord stem cells are a potentially lifesaving resource for your child, their siblings, and other family members.
Stem Cells Contains Genetic Information
Unlike that of older children and adults, newborn umbilical cord blood and cord tissue contain important baseline genetic information without the influence of environmental factors. This baseline genetic information can be compared later in life to determine if there have been changes caused by environmental factors. It can provide valuable insights into understanding the influence of food, drugs, stress, or exposure to toxins on how genes function and what treatment options are available.
Using only a small portion of the stem cells you stored with us, your medical professional can use your newborn’s stem cells for genetic analysis. They would simply contact us to request a small sample of your child’s stem cells for DNA analysis and our team will have it processed and shipped to them.
Who Else Can Use My Child’s Stem Cells?
Other family members may also be able to take advantage of the potentially lifesaving benefits of your newborn’s cord blood and cord tissue. Children with the same biological parents have a 25% chance of being a perfect HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigens) match and a 50% chance of being a partial HLA match. Human Leukocyte Antigens are proteins that your immune system uses to recognize which cells belong in your body and which do not.
Parents and grandparents may also be able to use your newborn’s stem cells for certain therapies. Future uses could include treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease, currently being explored in clinical trials.
How Long Can Stem Cells Be Stored?
In thinking about banking your newborn’s umbilical cord blood and cord tissue, an important consideration is how long it will be a potential lifesaving resource. Industry research has confirmed that cord blood stem cells remain viable after 30 years of cryopreservation. Cord for Life has been successfully storing highly functional stem cells for 27 years and counting.
Keep in mind that just like any other drug, the amount you need depends on your child’s weight and on the disease being treated. The National Cord Blood Program at the New York Blood Center suggests an average stem cell count for an umbilical cord transplant should be a minimum of 2×107 Total Nucleated Cells (TNCs) per kg of body weight.
The time period for using your child’s stem cells depends on the number of stem cells in their collection – the more stems cells extracted, the longer your child can use them. That’s why it’s important to bank with Cord for Life®, the only stem cell bank with PREMIERMAXCB ® technology, clinically proven process to yield the highest number of stem cells.
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Reserve your Cord Blood Collection Kit in time to bring it with you when you go into labor. Give your newborn every advantage with cord blood banking!
Donate Cord Blood
By donating your newborn’s cord blood, you are joining a nationwide effort to create a genetically diverse inventory of stem cells for transplant to a child.
