Cord Blood Stem Cell Storage Extended: Viability Shown for 27 Years

A 2023 study has shown that cord blood stem cells can be stored for as long as 27 years, extending the cryopreservation period by a further 4 years (until now, research had confirmed that cells stayed viable 23.5 years after freezing).
Based on the scientific evidence, Bioscience Institute has always offered a 20-year cord blood cryopreservation contract, with the option of renewing cryopreservation year by year once the contract ends. Today, all the parents who have turned to Bioscience know that the decision to renew the cryopreservation of their child’s cord stem cells beyond 20 years is backed by these studies.

Origins: the first cord blood transplant

The first successful cord blood transplant took place on 6 October 1988 and saved the life of Matthew Farrow, who was only 5 years old at the time. The transplant was carried out in Paris by Dr. Eliane Gluckman: young Matthew, who had Fanconi anemia, received the cord stem cells of Matthew’s baby sister Alison, collected at birth and frozen immediately.
At the time, using cord stem cells instead of bone marrow stem cells was entirely experimental. Among the first to believe in the potential of cord stem cells was Dr. Hal Broxmeyer (1944-2021): Broxmeyer not only devoted much of that research to them but literally made the transplant possible by personally carrying the sample from the USA to Paris, even buying a seat on the Pan Am flight for the Dry Shipper (nicknamed “Big Boy”) that held the cord blood.
Today Matthew is 40 years old and has a son.

Long-term storage of cord stem cells

Since that distant year of 1988, more than 40,000 transplants with cord stem cells have been carried out successfully. Cord blood is no longer considered “special waste” but a precious “lifesaver”, and studies on stem cell storage and their applications have followed one another, showing that these cells can be used successfully even years after freezing.
In 2011 an article was published on a successful autologous transplant using cells stored 21 years earlier.
Dr. Broxmeyer showed that cord stem cells remain viable 23.5 years after cryopreservation. The research team carried on the studies in Dr. Broxmeyer’s footsteps even after Broxmeyer’s death in 2021. Thanks to the team, we now know that cord stem cells can be stored for as long as 27 years.
Research therefore shows that when cord stem cells are properly cryopreserved, they keep their characteristics and can be transplanted successfully.

Cord blood: a gift at birth and a valuable opportunity for the future

The usefulness of cord stem cells lies in their ability to replace all the components of the immune system and of the blood that may be damaged, so much so that they can be used to treat leukemia, lymphoma, bone marrow aplasia, thalassemia and some severe immune system deficiencies. In addition, the continuing progress of medical research shows their usefulness in treating many of the most serious and widespread diseases (heart muscle regeneration after a heart attack, treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, of degenerative diseases of the liver, kidney, retina, cornea and hearing system, diabetes and many others).
Given their clinical potential and the recent findings on how long they can be cryopreserved, it is clear that cord stem cells are, to all intents and purposes, a real therapeutic opportunity for the future.
Even though today, in 95% of cases, the umbilical cord is still sent for disposal with hospital waste, it is estimated that more than 5 million samples are stored in private banks. This shows that more and more families are learning about the potential of cord blood and the properties of the cells it contains.

References

• Broxmeyer et al., 2023, Cell Reports Medicine 4, 101259 November 21, 2023 © 2023 The Author(s). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2023.101259
• Gluckman, E., Broxmeyer, H.A., Auerbach, A.D., Friedman, H.S., Douglas, G.W., Devergie, A., Esperou, H., Thierry, D., Socie, G., and Lehn, P. (1989). Hematopoietic reconstitution in a patient with Fanconi’s anemia by means of umbilical-cord blood from an HLA-identical sibling. N. Engl. J. Med. 321, 1174-1178. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM198910263211707
• Broxmeyer, H.E., Lee, M.-R., Hangoc, G., Cooper, S., Prasain, N., Kim, Y.- J., Mallett, C., Ye, Z., Witting, S., Cornetta, K., et al. (2011). Hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, generation of induced pluripotent stem cells, and isolation of endothelial progenitors from 21- to 23.5-year cryopreserved cord blood. Blood 117, 4773-4777. https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2011- 01-330514