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Lab here dispenses cord blood — and hope
By Virginia Young
Of the Post-Dispatch
05/21/2005 - A little lab in St. Louis is at the forefront of the national effort to use stem cells from newborns' umbilical cord blood to treat deadly diseases.
Without fanfare, the St. Louis Cord Blood Bank has amassed the second-largest inventory in the world of cord blood listed on a public registry. Eight stainless-steel freezers in a hospital office building hold the treasure.
Legislators, while deeply split over stem cell research involving cloning, are enthusiastic about the blood bank's work. Cord blood is a source of adult stem cells, and so does not become enmeshed in the ethical debate. Adult stem cells have not shown as much versatility as cells from embryos.
Rep. Rachel Storch, D-St. Louis, persuaded legislators to add $25,000 to the state budget to buy another freezer for the nonprofit facility. She said Missouri is poised to play a lead role in developing uniform policies and standards for this controversy-free source of lifesaving stem cells.
Stem cells from umbilical cord blood can be used as an alternative to bone marrow to treat diseases such as acute leukemia, lymphoma and aplastic anemia. The therapy provides hope for thousands of patients who have no relative or suitable volunteer to provide matched bone marrow.
St. Louis "got in on the ground floor" of the therapy's development, said J. Mario Alonso, the blood bank's manager, who has been with the operation since its inception in 1996. The facility is affiliated with Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital and St. Louis University.
Alonso said one of the biggest advantages of cord blood is that it's available. Mothers can donate the blood at no risk to themselves or their infants. Cells from cord blood also are less mature, so they are less likely to be rejected by the patient receiving them.
"It's the ultimate recycling process," Alonso said.
The blood bank relies on 400 obstetricians, who spread the word to expectant mothers and collect the donations. The doctors do it for free, which Alonso said amazes people from both coasts.
"It's that whole Midwest mentality - 'Oh, I can do this and help people? OK.'"
Couriers pick up the donations daily at 30 far-flung hospitals in a 150-mile radius, from Cape Girardeau, Mo., to Quincy, Ill. The blood must be processed at the lab within 24 hours.
Liquid nitrogen preserves the blood until it is matched with patients needing transplants. About 12,000 units are typed and ready to go.
A low profile
A cloud of white mist rises when Alonso opens one of the freezers, which run at minus-196 degrees Celsius. It's the most dramatic part of the tour of the blood bank's ordinary office suite at Cardinal Glennon's Pediatric Research Institute.
"We don't have a lot of flash, a lot of fluff," Alonso said.
The facility does have a lot of safety procedures. The health of the donating mother and infant is checked and tracked. Only umbilical cords that meet certain criteria, such as minimum blood volume and cell count, are stored.
About one-fourth of the donations pass the test. The rest are given to universities for scientific research.
Blood placed in the bank is available to patients all over the world. The St. Louis program was the first to list its cord blood with the National Marrow Donor Program. To date, the local facility has provided 765 units for transplant - more than any other bank except the New York Blood Center.
It's not cheap. The St. Louis bank's price is $21,500 per unit. Shipping about 100 units a year pays for the $2 million operation.
While most of the transplants have helped patients in the United States, some units have traveled as far as South America, Australia, Europe and Singapore. Special shipping canisters preserve the blood for up to 14 days.
Alonso said cord blood is generally reserved for the sickest patients because it is still considered a new therapy. The success rate is about 54 percent.
He'd like to shed the lab's low-key image and hire a marketing director to encourage more mothers to participate. Especially needed are donations from African-Americans, Hispanics and other minority groups.
Increasingly, private blood banks are competing for mothers' loyalties. The for-profit entities urge expectant parents to pay hefty fees to store their infants' blood for family use - a sort of biological insurance.
Experts have questioned the tactic, saying storage standards are inconsistent and the odds are low that children will need their own stem cells.
Missouri Sen. Matt Bartle, a vigorous foe of stem cell research involving cloning, wants to encourage cord blood banking, whether private or public.
Legislators passed his bill permitting grants to the banks from the state's share of the national tobacco settlement. Mira-Cell, a private cord blood bank, recently set up shop in Bartle's district.
"My most fervent hope," said Bartle, R-Lee's Summit, "is that the momentum that is behind adult stem cell research will basically leave embryonic stem cell research in the rear-view mirror."
The St. Louis facility's funds are in HB10. Bartle's bill is SB323.
Reporter Virginia Young
E-mail: vyoung@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 573-635-6178
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