Cord Blood Helps to Fight Disease

Scientists and Doctors are tapping new ways to use Cord Blood in the fight against disease. There are two new ways doctors are using umbilical cord blood to treat incurable diseases.

HealthFirst reporter Leslie Toldo takes us inside the clinical trials using cord blood to give kids better lives.

Cord blood is already helping cancer patients and those suffering from blood disorders.

Researchers now have discovered how to use it to treat diabetes and some forms of brain damage.

Ellen Seidman snaps a quick picture of a bag of cells. Cells she hopes will change her son’s future. “It was just kind of miraculous. You just watched these stem cells dripping into him.”

A stroke at birth caused 6-year-old Max’s cerebral palsy. He’s one of about 150 kids getting infusions of his own cord blood at Duke University. The hope is the stem cells in Max’s cord blood will improve his brain function.

“Cells go to the brain after we infuse them in the blood,” explained Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg. “They can help repair damage in the brain, and we’re hoping in children with cerebral palsy that will happen as well.”

Doctors have reported the cord blood stem cells have the potential to reduce Max’s muscle tightness, improve his mobility and help his speech over the next year.

On another cord blood front, researchers are using infusions to fight type-one diabetes.

After diabetic Barrett Ross received a cord blood infusion, he cut his insulin use by two-thirds. He’s had diabetes for three years, and his body is still producing insulin. Researchers believe stem cells in the blood slow the immune attack of diabetes so the pancreas destroys fewer insulin-producing cells.

“The results that we have experienced as a result of this study, in my mind, are staggering,” said Barrett’s father, Brian Ross.

“It is very exciting. I take care of children with diabetes all the time. I know what is that they go through,” explained Dr. Desmond Schatz.

Cord blood is not a cure-all.

“It’s still an experimental procedure, and we know there are no guarantees. Our philosophy has always been if it couldn’t hurt and it might help, we’re gonna try it,” said Seidman.

But it’s a wager parents are placing as they hope for a healthier future for their kids.

Under two percent of parents bank their child’s cord blood at birth. All parents have the option, but it can cost up to $2,000 up front.

After the initial outlay, it costs about $100 a year to store cord blood.