Expert Q+A: Cryo-Cell Cord Blood Banking with Marion Welch

Cryo-Cell Cord Blood Banking is the world’s first cord blood bank, having given birth to the industry in 1989. Today, we have been entrusted to store the cord blood from the babies of more than 500,000 parents from 87 countries. Cryo-Cell’s leadership is recognized worldwide as evidenced by the licensing of our technology and service offering to three of the world’s top seven private cord blood banks. Approximately 40,000 OB-GYNs have recommended Cryo-Cell to patients or collected and sent cord blood to Cryo-Cell. Cryo-Cell’s industry-leading, state-of-the-art laboratory, and storage facility are situated adjacent to our corporate headquarters. This proximity allows our executives to directly oversee the daily operation of the most secure, efficient, and technically advanced facility in the industry. Learn more at www.cryo-cell.com. To reach Marion directly for questions and more information, please email her at [email protected].

 

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Amanda:
Hi everyone, Amanda with Alamo City Moms back with another Bloom 2020 Expert Q+A for you. We’re really excited to get to talk to Marian who is a Senior Cord Blood Educator at the Cryo-Cell Cord Blood Bank. And we have so many questions for you. I’m so excited to talk to you about this because I think it’s something that if you don’t know, you don’t know, you have no idea what this is what it’s about.

Marian:
Correct. And it’s very important that you do know about it because it’s a once in a lifetime decision, you cannot go back and get these cord blood stem cells after the birth of your baby. So we want to make sure everybody’s informed and have their questions answered.

Amanda:
Tell us a little bit about you and a little bit about Cryo-Cell Cord Blood Bank.

Marian:
So I actually started educating families about cord blood banking over 20 years ago, I was very much interested in stem cells because my father was just diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. And I was in the medical field. And I’ve been drawn to this field, not only for what it currently can do with stem cells, but what is expected in the future. When I started educating families two decades ago, there were only 30 approved standard indications for cord blood stem cells, it’s up to 80 now. And it’s going to continue to advance especially in light of all the medical innovation that’s coming about due to COVID-19. And cord blood and cord tissue is playing a part now and treatment for acute respiratory disorder for COVID.

Amanda:
That’s very interesting. And we hear all kinds of things about what they’re doing in the medical field right now and how fast it’s all happening. So that’s really cool. So talk me through the process of what exactly cord blood banking is, what do they do, talk me through it start to finish.

Marian:
It’s a really, really easy concept. Basically, every parent who’s expecting a baby, even if it’s via surrogate can receive a Cryo-Cell cord blood collection kit to take with them to delivery to capture their babies master blood cell and the umbilical cord, and the master structural cell that’s in the cord tissue. It’s completely painless, it takes place with a cord blood collection kit, it’s only a few minutes, nothing for the collection itself and nothing changes with your delivery. But it’s very important that you are prepared and that you do register to receive a cord blood collection kit. Once we receive these master stem cells back we freeze them and store them for the family so that they are available if needed, as the family or as the child ages.

Amanda:
So this is definitely something to look into and decide on earlier rather than later. Because you can’t just in the moment decide you want to want to do this.

Marian:
Well said. You really need to be prepared with a kit, because it makes it much easier on the provider in the hospital to walk in with your kit. With that said, I do have emergency kits at almost all of the hospitals in San Antonio, but there’s no guarantee. If someone decides I want to save them before they discard them, there’s no guarantee that the kit will be there for them if someone had just used it. So yes, you want to get your kit at least 60 days in advance, especially if you have a delivery that’s earlier than your due date – babies come on their own timeline so we can never quite prepare for that.

Amanda:
Um, how are cord blood stem cells, that’s a mouthful, currently being used what are some things that they’re good for, I guess?

Marian:
Well, as I mentioned, they’re indicated for 80 standard indications, which means that they’ve been approved for use by the FDA and covered by insurance. They’re used for all the blood disorders since the cord blood stem cell is a master blood simple stem cell that can differentiate into a red cell, white cell T cell, and can boost the immune system. So think of it as the cell that you would use for treatments for leukemia, sickle cell, solid tumors, neuroblastoma, retinoblastoma, which we are seeing an increase of lymphomas, metabolic diseases, enzyme diseases, there is an extensive list of life-threatening diseases that cord blood stem cells are used for. We now know that these stem cells have a homing mechanism and that they are able to migrate to the areas of inflammation in the body and we are now using cord blood stem cells for children who are diagnosed with autism and cerebral palsy––that is so exciting. And it really is important for families to know about because the FDA just granted approval for anybody who has a child with autism and their own cord blood or a matching sibling approval to use those stem cells to treat and reduce the symptoms of autism. That’s being done at Duke under the auspices of Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, who’s also our medical director. And we’re very excited now to see the core, those stem cells and core tissue, which we’ll talk a little bit about, are now moving into a whole new direction called regenerative medicine or cellular therapy, using your own cells to treat inflammation in the body.

Amanda:
That’s amazing. It’s amazing that someone figured that out. But it’s even more amazing that this technology is available to us. We just have to save the cord blood cells, and then they’re there. As you just mentioned, siblings. Um, if, if the cord blood stem cells are saved from one of your children, I’m guessing that they can be used for siblings. Can they be used for any other family members?

Marian:
Absolutely, we know that there’s a 50% chance of a perfect match to a parent – a parent contributes to the baby’s DNA, and there’s 25% chance of a perfect match to a sibling. However, because these cells are so young, and so pristine, meaning that they have very little exposure to viruses, vaccines, environmental toxins, they do tolerate partial matches, which is a tissue match. And we have seen a really great success using even partial matches for family members using cord blood. And that’s a 75% chance of a partial match to an immediate family member. And many of the transfers we’ve worked with at Cryo-Cell have been for siblings because some of these diseases like sickle cell require a sibling and it’s always safest to use genetically related stem cells versus from an unknown a donor. Right?

Amanda:
It’s like putting a puzzle together, right? You’re better off with that match that you know, kind of matches versus a random piece from a different puzzle. Right?

Marian:
Right, because your body recognizes that genetic link. And we see less rejection, which it can also be very dangerous when you’re doing a stem cell transplant, let’s say for leukemia, so you want a family match, you want the very healthy cell that hasn’t been exposed to toxins like cord blood and cord tissue, they will never be able to find a cell that’s this pristine and healthy, this unexposed to these dangerous elements like viruses. So it’s a really, really important cell for not only these indications, but as we move forward into regenerative medicine, like a traumatic brain injury.

Amanda:
That’s great to know. So I guess, really, that’s important for families who maybe didn’t bank with other siblings, but you’re going to add to the family, you can absolutely bank with any other children you have. And kind of get a catch-all for everybody.

Marian:
Exactly. And that’s so well stated. I mean, really, what I see now is most parents are banking each child’s cord blood. So they have a perfect match, especially as this moves into regenerative therapy. They would rather the children use their own stem cells. But if you did not ask for one child, do not miss the opportunity to save the next child’s cord blood. And I have a lot of families that are doing that now, just because there is a lot of education that is needed for families to understand this. And they may have not gotten it with their first pregnancy and they’re learning more about it for their second. So yes, you want, you can definitely cover the needs of the first child or another child with one child’s cord blood.

Amanda:
That’s so fascinating to me. That’s so cool. The science behind it is just like, oh my gosh, it’s so great.

Marian:
It really, really is. It’s – just the homing mechanism and the way it can differentiate and replicate. This is the future of medicine. This is where it’s growing into regenerative medicine and using yourself, your master stem cells to treat damaged tissue or terminate the immune system.

Amanda:
How long does the collection last? Does it have a shelf life? Or is it you know, if I bank for my child and then when he’s 30 and something happens? Are they still good to use them? Do we know that?

Marian:
We pretty much do. We’re out 30 years because cord blood banking is about 32 years old right now. And there’s no expiration date required by our accreditation bodies and the FDA because what we know from cryobiology is that if you freeze a cell at minus 196 centigrade, it halts cellular activity without destroying cells and we have thawed out units that were 30 years old, and they were still 99% viable. So we believe these cells will possibly last into the next generation. But we’ll learn more as we do more and more transplants, I do know that one of the oldest cells used for leukemia was close to 20 years old. That’s amazing.

Amanda:
Fascinating, it’s totally, totally worth that. As you said, it doesn’t take very long during delivery to get this done. And then you don’t have to think about it anymore. And you don’t. And it’s there. It’s like an insurance policy.

Marian:
It is, you know, with more and more research going into stem cell therapy, and every medical school has a stem cell lab, this is such an important opportunity that parents need to be aware of and be prepared for, right. 28 states mandate that expected parents receive cord blood information and a lot of them the National Institute of Health guidelines. So because you, again, you can’t go back and get them. So you want to be fully informed.

Amanda:
So a one-time deal.

Marian:
Exactly.

Amanda:
If you have any other questions that you would like answered, please leave them for us. You can also get in touch with Marian. And she’ll let us know the best way for you to do that. But any questions you have, she will circle back around, we will make sure they get answered. If you’re watching this video in a couple of months, we will get in touch with her so that she can get in touch with you and answer these questions. Because this is fascinating. This is something that every family needs to at least have the option to do and you can’t have the option if you don’t know about it.

Marian:
That’s right every family needs to know about this, needs to look at their family history, needs to look at where the direction that regenerative medicine is going and to know that this is going to advance in medicine. So please take the time to reach out and answer all your questions. Anybody who’s attending Bloom 2020, will get special discounted pricing for being educated on cord blood, and can contact me directly at [email protected]

Amanda:
And we will leave all of that here for you too. But yeah, I’m so glad you reminded me of that because it is such a great deal. And we’ll post those details for you so that you can catch that. Thank you so much. Marian. Thank you. So jazzed about this right now. It was so big, bigger than I thought it was.

Marian:
It’s great. And I’m so happy to be here to share this information with everyone and I wish everyone a wonderful pregnancy journey and delivery journey.

 

Amanda
A fifth-generation San Antonionian - who happened to spend her formative years in Austin - Amanda loves the SAT from the confetti in her hair to the bluebonnets under her feet. Never one to miss a reason to host a party or decorate for a theme, Amanda revels in the 'mas Fiesta' attitude of the city. She's mom to Vivi (2012) aka #HurricaneVivi, Mac (2020) and wife to Francois, whom she met at Texas A&M (FTAC '05). She has a Masters in Early Childhood Education and a Doctorate in Making it Up As She Goes - which means she's a sometimes-fun-mom. You can find her on Instagram . She loves confetti, croissants, and a cold Ranch Water. Favorite Restaurant: Piatti's Favorite Landmark: Johnson Street footbridge in King William Favorite San Antonio Tradition: Fiesta Medals