Umbilical Cord Blood storage evidence

Better Clinical Outcome in Related UCB transplants

Worldwide Analysis of 52  private umbilical cord blood (UCB) transplants

In an analysis of private cord blood transplants, 34 of 52 cases assessed were successful (65%), 17 were unknown and 3 unsuccessful (5%), The Average age of the transplants was 6.1 The HLA matches were 6/6, due to 45 cases being sibling, 6 were autologous( transplant of same donor)
• So major use was not autologous but related transplants
• Transplantations of Stored umbilical cord blood from private blood banks;
The transplants reinforce the previous studies showing a significantly better clinical outcome when transplants take place from a related source.

Source; Worldwide experience and analysis of 52 case reports between 1993 and 2004. Jacobs VR, Niemeyer M, Kiechle M.

Significantly reduced Graft vs Host Disease with UCB transplants

Gluckman carried out a large scale analysis of 527 cord blood transplants from 121 centres and 29 countries in 2000. He showed that survival with umbilical cord blood transplants was comparable to that with related or unrelated bone marrow transplants. Although engraftment with cord blood was delayed, the incidence of acute and chronic GVHD was reduced and the overall event-free survival with umbilical cord blood was not statistically different compared to bone marrow transplants 5 It was also shown in 2001 that despite HLA disparity in umbilical cord blood transplants they generated comparable results in terms of engraftment, GVHD and survival with HLA matched bone marrow.

Source; Exp Hematol 2000; 28:1197-1205, Weisdorf DJ, Wagner JE Blood 2001; 97:2957-2961

Also, Cohen et al reviewed 2500 cases. They concluded that cord blood transplants are accompanied by a high probability of engraftment and donor type reconstitution but that time to engraftment represents a yet unresolved problem. The major advantage of cord blood transplants is that they allow for a greater degree of HLA mismatch and there is a lower death rate from GVHD.

Source; Leukaemia and Lymphoma 2003;;1287-1299