During the past 18 months, there has been a flurry of media activity related to cord blood stem cell banking and transplantation. Most importantly, the emerging acceptance of transplant physicians to use cord blood stem cell transplants to address the lion share of the major unmet medical need, adult patients, is by far the most exciting development. Here, in chronological order, are a series of momentum building events:
- In January, 2004, Congress passes Omnibus Spending Bill HR2673, including a $10 million appropriation for a National Cord Blood Registry to be administered by the Human Resources Spending Agency (HRSA). The bill requires that the first $1 million be spent to commission an Institute of Medicine study to determine how best to distribute the funds for expanded cord blood banking.
- Scientists at Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center announce that they have scientifically validated, for the first time, that stem cells in umbilical cord blood can infiltrate damaged heart tissue and transform themselves into the kind of heart cells needed to halt further damage. Clinical proof of this principle has existed for a decade, as Duke physicians have used cord blood to correct heart, brain and liver defects in children with rare metabolic diseases. But until now they lacked the molecular evidence to prove that cord blood stem cells were the root of a cure. The same phenomenon is likely at work in brain tissue as well. Cord blood transplants appear to halt or slow the progressive brain damage that is caused by metabolic diseases such as Sanfilippo Syndrome, Krabbe Disease and Hurler's Syndrome.
- On November 2, the voters of California overwhelmingly approved Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative, by a margin of 59% to 41%. In passing Proposition 71, voters agreed to fund stem cell research at California hospitals, medical schools and universities at the rate of $295 million in bonds for the next 10 years.. Cord blood stem cells are included as a viable source of stem cell research.
- The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports on “Growing Role for Umbilical Cord Blood” (JAMA, November 24, 2004 – Vol. 292, No. 20, p. 2453). In the report, a recent study of 20 children with Hurler Syndrome is mentioned where cord blood stem cells are reported to provide the missing enzyme and that “the most striking clinical outcome is the improvement in IQ” (N. Engl J Med. 2004; 350:1960-1969).
- The very next day, in a hallmark article, the New England Journal of Medicine reports that cord blood transplantation is a real alternative for adult patients with leukemia (N Engl J Med, November 25, 2004, 351; 22). The NEJM includes two studies, on from US and one from Europe.
- The next day after that, The Korea Times reported that a woman paralyzed from the waist down for 19 years now has sensation in her legs after cord blood stem cells were injected into her spinal cord in October 2004.
- At the 46th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in December 204, Dr. Nelson Chao of Duke University tells the audience that “it’s time to move cord blood transplantation into the adult population”.
- Adding up expected commitments by state governments far beyond those initiated by Proposition 71, many states including New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, Wisconsin and New York are actively seeking state funds or bond money to invest in stem cell research to expand their economic growth. 'There are more dollars now going into the field than there would be if President Bush in 2001 had thrown the gates wide open,' said Daniel Perry, the president of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research in January, which according to its Web site includes some 90 research universities and medical advocacy groups, including Harvard, Johns Hopkins and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International. 'You're talking $400 million or $500 million a year in stem cell research.”
- In February 2005, University of Minnesota (Blood, Vol. 105, No.3, pp. 915-916) that multi-cord transplants, utilizing two partially HLA-matched umbilical units from two unrelated donors, can dramatically enhance the engraftment of adults with hematologic malignancy.
- Commissioned by Congress, the Institute of Medicine report, released on April 14, 2005, states that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should establish a new National Cord Blood Stem Cell Bank Program to set rules for the donation, collection, and use of lifesaving stem cells derived from donated umbilical cord blood. The committee estimates that at least an additional 100,000 new, high-quality cord blood units are needed in the national inventory. Importantly, the committee recommends that all quality standards adopted by proposed National Cord Blood Stem Cell Bank Program should apply to both public and private cord blood banks.
- The May 19, 2005 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine reports that children with a fatal genetic disorder called Krabbe Disease can be saved and their brain development preserved if they receive stem cells from umbilical cord blood before symptoms of the disease develop.
- The Cord Blood Stem Cell Act of 2005 has now been introduced with strong bi-partisan support in both the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 596) and the U.S. Senate (S. 681). Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) was the leading sponsor of this legislation in the House and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) was the leading sponsor in the Senate. If passed, this critical legislation will provide limited federal support to quickly build a public inventory of high quality cord blood units in a National Cord Blood Stem Cell Bank Program and will provide patients with another viable source of stem cells for transplantation.
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