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The completion of Beijing's new Cord-blood Stem Cell Bank has aroused public interest in cord-blood banking. Although cord-blood has certain medical value, many experts have questioned the effectiveness of autologous cord-blood stem cell transplants. They point out that to date there has been no case of an autologous cord-blood stem cell transplant conducted to treat leukemia in China.

A researcher from Tianjin Cord-Blood Bank examines liquid nitrogen cans used to store umbilical cord-blood units. [People's Daily]

Beijing Cord-blood Stem Cell Bank held a press conference for the completion of its new headquarters on April 21, 2009. The new bank has the largest storage capacity in the world.

Is privately banked cord-blood useful?

Umbilical cord-blood is the blood collected from the umbilical cord or placenta after delivery of a child. According to Professor Liu Kaiyan, deputy director of Hematology Department, People's Hospital of Beijing University, cord-blood stem cells can be used to treat more than 20 blood diseases, including leukemia, lymphoma, anemia, mucopolysaccharidosis, parkinsonism and severe combined immunodeficiency.

Although the medical value of cord-blood has been confirmed, experts have long debated the effectiveness of autologous cord-blood stem cell transplants. According to statistics, by the end of 2008,15,000 successful unrelated cord-blood transplants had been conducted worldwide, compared with some 500 in China. However, there has not been a single case of using a patient's own cord-blood as a source of transplanted stem cells for the treatment of leukemia in China.

Professor Liu Kaiyan attributed this fact to the low incidence of leukemia and the relative novelty of cord-blood banks in China. However, according to Wu Zuze, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Science, autologous cord-blood stem cells cannot be used to cure either congenital blood diseases like thalassaemia and hemophilia, or some cases of leukemia with genetic causes.

Can an autologous cord-blood transplant cure non-genetic leukemia? Tang Peixian, a researcher from the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, thought it a step backward for science. He said a successful allogeneic stem cell transplant relies on the anti-tumor responses promoted by the graft, while an autologous transplant cannot promote anti-tumor responses, so the disease can only be alleviated but not cured.

By contrast, Professor Wu Daopei, an expert on hematopoietic stem cell transplant, spoke in favour of the private banking of cord-blood, because patients are less likely to suffer from rejection problems during a transplant if their own cord-blood is used.

Is it necessary to privately bank the cord-blood?

Nowadays, a lot of advertisements exaggerate the importance of private cord-blood banking. A lot of parents choose to store their babies' cord-blood "just in case". Cord-blood banks typically charge a 5,000-yuan collection fee and an annual 620-yuan storage fee. The lifespan of the cells is 18 years.

A 28-year-old mother said she wouldn't have agreed to store her son's cord-blood if she had known that there has been no successful case of an autologous cord-blood transplant in China. She accused advertisements of disseminating misleading information.