Usually discarded, cord blood is a rich source of stem cells

By Joe Fahy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When she considered ways to honor the memory of her husband, Daniel, Carol Berger thought about a lecture or scholarship. But she and her family finally settled on a novel effort to promote the use of stem cells in treating disease.

Mr. Berger, a local attorney known for championing liberal causes, benefited from a stem cell transplant to treat his lymphoma. He died in July 2006 at age 73.

This morning, officials at Magee-Womens Hospital will announce the Dan Berger Cord Blood Program. It is aimed at expanding options for new mothers to bank umbilical cord blood, a rich source of stem cells that can be used to treat certain cancers, sickle cell anemia and immune deficiencies.

The program will inform women about storing cord blood for their family's use or donating it to others or for research. It also will educate patients and health professionals about cord blood banking.

"We believe this is a very unique program in the country in that it addresses the whole collection process," said Dr. Dennis English, Magee's vice president for medical affairs. He said officials hope to significantly increase cord blood collections at the hospital.

"No one else is doing it quite this way," said Mrs. Berger, whose family is making a financial pledge for the new program.

Additional support is expected from UPMC Health Plan and Highmark, Dr. English said.

Other partners in the effort include the Institute for Transfusion Medicine, the parent organization of the Central Blood Bank, and three private cord blood banks: Viacord, CorCell and CBR.

Cord blood can be collected from the umbilical cord and the placenta after a baby is born. Stem cells also can be extracted from bone marrow and the bloodstream.

Stem cell transplants from cord blood have been increasing, particularly in the past few years, Dr. English said. Yet cord blood is discarded following the vast majority of births.

Nationwide, cord blood is stored after about 4 percent of deliveries, he said. In Western Pennsylvania, the figure is just 1.5 percent.

One reason, he said, is that a public banking option hasn't been available locally. And many obstetricians have had little interest in advising patients to use private cord blood banks that store the blood for a fee -- usually, about $1,700 to $2,000 initially and another $100 to $200 per year.

Pennsylvania lawmakers likely will consider legislation that would require doctors to give women information about cord blood banking, Dr. English said. Similar legislation has been adopted in other states, he said.

The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages families to donate cord blood to public banks, if available in the area, to benefit others in need. But the group discourages parents from storing blood at private banks unless they have an older child with a condition that could potentially benefit from a transplant. Cord blood banked privately seldom is used, and therefore wasted, the group noted.

The new program at Magee calls for developing educational materials to inform mothers about cord blood banking several months before they give birth.

Mothers who are interested in storing cord blood for their families could choose to bank it, for a fee, through one of the private companies, Dr. English said.

They also could donate it to the Magee-Women's Research Institute, which focuses its studies on women and infants, or for public use through the Central Blood Bank. Dr. English said the blood bank will work to coordinate its donations through the National Marrow Donor Program, which operates a federally funded U.S. registry of adult donors and cord blood units.

As part of the new Magee program, technicians will be available to collect cord blood following deliveries, Dr. English said.

The program also will hire an educator to discuss public and private cord blood banking with obstetricians, family doctors and midwives, he said.

Efforts also will be made to speak to patients about cord blood banking at health fairs and similar events. Reaching minority populations is especially important, Dr. English said, because blacks are much less likely than whites to find a match through a public cord blood bank. Relatively few specimens for blacks are available.

Mary Halet, manager of cord blood operations for the National Marrow Donor Program, said the new program appears to be designed to educate women ahead of time about the various options available for storing or donating cord blood.

"I think that's really interesting and good advocacy for women's health," she said.

Mrs. Berger said her husband developed lymphoma in the 1990s. An avid Pirates fan and Yale Law School graduate, he had chaired the Western Pennsylvania presidential campaign of Sen. Eugene McCarthy in 1968 and had been general counsel to the Pittsburgh chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Chemotherapy held the cancer in check for about six years, Mrs. Berger said, and her husband was able to practice law with their son, Joshua, and to go horseback riding, ski and travel.

But when the therapy stopped working, the family frantically searched for other options.

An initial stem cell transplant at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston failed, but a second was successful, Mrs. Berger said.

Stem cells are "the way of the future in medicine," she said, noting that they are used to treat many serious diseases and show potential for curing others.


Original  Article : http://www.post-gazette.com

Bill could increase umbilical blood use
Advocate say state supply source needed

umbilical cord blood stem cell storage

A bill that would lay the foundation for the state's first public umbilical cord blood bank soared through the state legislature this week.

AB 34, authored by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge, was approved unanimously by the Assembly on Wednesday. In the Senate, it was supported 79 to 1.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has until Oct. 12 to sign the bill into law. He has not taken a position on it, and his office declined to comment on the bill Friday or say when he might considered it.

"Certainly the need is there," Portantino said of establishing a cord blood bank.

Right now, he said, "we're not harvesting cord blood, we're not saving the lives we should be saving."

Research has suggested that as many as 70 diseases could be treated with the stem cells extracted from umbilical cord blood.

Although private cord blood banks exist in the state, they are costly and cannot meet all of the growing demand, Portantino said.

"Not all patients do find a unit (of blood) in a timely manner," said Joseph Rosenthal, director of pediatric hematopoietic cell transplantation at City of Hope in Duarte.

One of his patients, a child of mixed African-American

Advocate say state supply source needed
By Elise Kleeman, Staff Writer

Original Article From : http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_6902971

Recently, we told you about eight-month-old Jackson Blackford who was born blind because of a rare condition.

He is on his way to China to receive treatment that uses umbilical cord stem cell injections from healthy babies.

Although this isn't a new procedure, many people aren't aware that pregnant mothers even have this option because there aren't many public cord blood registries available.

We have the story of an area girl whose life was saved because of a simple donation that in many cases gets thrown away.

Take one look at nine-year-old Presley Nash in her Tae Kwon Do class, and it's hard to believe she was born with a genetic disorder that usually results in premature death.

It has been five years since she's received a life saving cord blood transplant and all she has now are happy memories.

"I get to see all my teachers and friends and run and play," Nash said.

But her grandmother Martha Houchin will never forget.

"Presley was close to death many times and I bargained and said I will educate the world about cord blood," Houchin assured.

She's an O.B. educator for The Medical Center and said it's so easy and painless to donate your baby's umbilical cord blood.

A public registry will pick it up free of charge or you can save your own through a private registry.

"The cord blood has stem cells and these stem cells can basically reproduce within the body," Houchin said.

Stem cells Presley received created an enzyme her body didn't produce on its own.

So by creating a whole new system, she is now completely free of this disease and doesn't need any medication.

Houchin said cord blood transplants are also being used for other illnesses such as leukemia, Alzheimer's and spinal cord injuries.

"With bone marrow, eight out of eight markers have to match, with cord blood only five have to match," she continued.

For Presley, it's another Tae Kwon Do class.

But for Martha, it's another day to spread the word and save a life.

Houchin said it takes a very small amount of blood from the umbilical cord to generate a whole new system in your body.

Reporter: Fida Georges
The original article can be found at http://www.wbko.com/