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Current Cord Blood Banking Concepts and Practices

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Cord Blood Transplantations

Abstract

Umbilical cord blood (CB) is firmly established as a donor source for hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) and is rapidly emerging as a stem cell source for cellular and regenerative therapies. Currently, over 160 public CB banks store a worldwide inventory of over 700,000 well-characterized CB units donated for public use. Family or private banks are also available for families who elect to pay to store CB for private use. In this chapter, we briefly review the history of CB banking and transplantation. We also discuss current approaches to donor recruitment, collection, processing, and cryopreservation of CB units. We review criteria for banking as well as assays used to assess CB unit potency and quality with the aim of providing an inventory of high-quality CB units. Challenges facing the banking community including increasing regulatory requirements, the financial status of public CB banks, and future strategies for CB banking are also reviewed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carolinas Cord Blood Bank, Robertson Clinical and Translational Cell Therapy Program, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Kristin M. Page MD & Joanne Kurtzberg MD

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  1. Kristin M. Page MD
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  2. Joanne Kurtzberg MD
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Correspondence to Kristin M. Page MD .

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  1. Duke Cancer Center, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA

    Mitchell Horwitz

  2. Duke Cancer Center, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA

    Nelson Chao

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Page, K.M., Kurtzberg, J. (2017). Current Cord Blood Banking Concepts and Practices. In: Horwitz, M., Chao, N. (eds) Cord Blood Transplantations. Advances and Controversies in Hematopoietic Transplantation and Cell Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53628-6_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53628-6_2

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