Cord Tissue Banking

The tissue of the umbilical cord, or ‘cord tissue’, is an additional source of valuable stem cells.

The tissue that makes up of baby’s umbilical cord shields and insulates the veins that are in charge of delivering blood between the mom and baby throughout pregnancy. In addition to playing the role of protector, baby’s umbilical cord tissue contains several types of stem cells, including Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs), which are different from the Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSCs) found abundantly in cord blood.

Cord Tissue Stem Cells

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can quickly divide, regenerate, and differentiate into a wide variety of cell types, including cartilage, bone, and neural cells. They can also respond to inflammation and help in tissue repair. Researchers are thrilled by the possibility of these special properties to help treat disorders that impact cartilage, muscle, and nerve cells.

What is Cord Tissue Banking?

Banking cord tissue enables the security of an additional supply of stem cells that function differently from cord blood stem cells. The procedure of collecting the umbilical cord tissue and cryogenically freezing the stem cells within it for potential future medical use is known as cord tissue banking.

Understanding how the umbilical cord tissue is processed and preserved is important when it comes to cord tissue banking because it differs between cord tissue services.

Cord tissue's role in regenerative medicine

The cord tissue contains a variety of stem cell types, each with a unique potential application. There are epithelial and endothelial stem cells, but mesenchymal stem cells, or MSCs, make up the majority of the stem cells in the cord tissue. MSCs are the ancestors of numerous types of cells, including those that make up the neurological system, sensory organs, circulatory tissues, skin, bone, and cartilage.

Strong stem cells known as MSCs assist the body recover and repair in various ways than cord blood. In addition, able to repair tissue damage-related inflammation (burn wounds), cord tissue stem cells also generate growth factors that help with tissue repair and can develop into a variety of cell types, including neural cells, bone cells, fat cells, and cartilage.

Numerous therapeutic trials are presently looking into MSCs, which are present in the cord tissue. Although the research is still in its early phases, the prospects are encouraging. Access to these medicines will be improved in the future by banking umbilical cord tissue.

Future therapy for conditions including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Autism, Type 1 diabetes, Lung cancer, Rheumatoid arthritis, Sports injuries (cartilage), Lupus, Burn-Wound management and many more may involve MSCs derived from cord tissue.

DID YOU KNOW? MSCs are Universal Donor Cells that don’t require matching donors and recipients. In fact, MSCs derived from donated sources are currently being used in nearly all active human clinical trials involving umbilical cord tissue. In India, the DCGI has already approved the use of donated, expanded MSCs obtained from adult human bone marrow for the treatment of CLI due to Buerger’s Disease

The “National Guidelines For Stem Cell Research” in India were revised by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in October 2017, and they now forbid commercial banking of ALL OTHER BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS EXCEPT CORD BLOOD. Therefore, Incord, being a law-abiding business, chose to voluntarily cease the collection, processing, and storage of umbilical cord tissue.

The harvesting of stem cells from dental pulp, adipose tissue, menstrual blood, cord tissue, and placenta is still being done by numerous stem cell banks in India. Is this allowed?

Only cord blood-derived stem cells are currently available for storage in banks. A person engaging in unethical medical practice is anyone who offers to preserve stem cells obtained from any other sources.