Friday, May 30, 2008
Gulf News
Muscat: Cord blood stem cell storage services were formally launched in Oman on Monday evening, an initiative that its promoters hope will be well-received in a country that suffers a relatively high incidence of blood disorders and genetic diseases.
Holland-based Cryo-Save, the largest and longest established private stem cell bank in Europe, launched the service in association with local Omani firm Mustafa Sultan Science and Industry Company. A number of gynaecologists and obstetricians attached to leading government and private healthcare institutions in Muscat, attended the launch.
Cord blood is the blood that remains in the umbilical cord after the baby is born. Although once discarded as medical waste, cord blood is scientifically proven to be rich in stem cells. Stem cells have the ability to regenerate into other cell types, including those that carry oxygen, fight disease and curtail bleeding.
By storing these stem cells, a child can gain access to their own young stem cells later in life, consequently benefiting from new therapeutic options that would otherwise be impossible. Siblings can also benefit from the same stem cells, Dr Cherie Daly, Executive Manager of Cryo Save, said at the launch.
Couples that sign up for Cryo Save's services can have their umbilical cord blood stem calls cryogenically stored for up to 20 years. Clients receive a special collection kit with which the doctor or obstetrician collects the umbilical cord blood soon after childbirth.
The collection kit is then labelled and shipped to Cryo Save's state-of-the-art laboratory at the Dubai Biotechnology and Research Park (DuBiotech) in the United Arab Emirates.
After the sample is tested for the presence of infectious agents and microbiological contamination, stem cells are then isolated and their quantity and quality determined. Vital stem cells are labelled, split and frozen. A proportion of them remain in Dubai, while the rest is stored at Cryo-Save's main cryogenic storage site in Belgium.
"The Dubai lab is regulated and licenced by the UAE's Ministry of Health.
"It is also undergoing accreditation procedures by the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) which, when completed, will enable our customers to have their samples processed anywhere in the world," said Dr Daly.
What is cord blood?
Experimental basis
After a baby is born and the umbilical cord is cut, some blood remains in the blood vessels of the placenta and the portion of the umbilical cord that remains attached to it. After birth, the baby no longer needs this extra blood. This blood is called placental blood or umbilical cord blood: "cord blood" for short.
Cord blood contains all the normal elements of blood - red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma. But it is also rich in hematopoietic [blood-forming] stem cells, similar to those found in bone marrow. This is why cord blood can be used for transplantation instead of bone marrow.
Cord blood is being used increasingly on an experimental basis as a source of stem cells, as an alternative to bone marrow. Most cord blood transplants have been done to treat diseases of the blood and immune system. It has also been used to restore the functional deficiencies of several genetic metabolic diseases. To date, more than 70 different diseases have been treated with cord blood transplants.
Gulf News 2008. All rights reserved.
