On Tuesday 15th September, stem cell transplant charity Anthony Nolan reached a milestone: its 500th cord blood shipment to a transplant centre for a patient in need.
This comes 18 years after the charity opened the UK’s first purpose-built cord blood bank designed to store donated umbilical cord blood.
Cord blood is the blood left in the placenta and umbilical cord after a woman has given birth. It contains lots of stem cells which can be used in lifesaving transplants for people with blood cancers and blood disorders.
The cord blood bank is crucial for Anthony Nolan’s aim to address inequities in stem cell transplantation. In the UK, patients from a minority ethnic background are more likely to have a rare tissue type, meaning it can be harder to find a fully matched donor.
Because cord blood requires less stringent genetic matching, it can provide an additional treatment option for people with less common tissue types.
Cord blood is also vital in the development of future cell therapies. For example, Anthony Nolan conducts research into natural killer (NK) cells, a type of immune cell, sourced from cord blood, that can fight cancer, to investigate how they can be used to treat blood cancer relapse
NK cells don’t require genetic matching to the patient, meaning they could help any patient, regardless of their tissue type. This could be especially useful for patients from minority ethnic backgrounds who are more likely to have a rare tissue type on UK registers.
Roger Horton, head of clinical innovation and partnerships at Anthony Nolan, said:
“Cord blood is amazing. Not only does it have the unique potential to give patients who do not have a suitable match on the register a second chance of life, but it is also vital in the development of the next generation of lifesaving cell therapies.
“I’m delighted that we have reached the milestone of shipping 500 cord blood units to patients who need them. It feels especially poignant as it comes in the same year as the Anthony Nolan Research Institute is celebrating 30 years of pioneering research.”
Dr Diana Hernandez, director of immune and advanced therapies at Anthony Nolan, said:
“Cord blood is a hugely important source of cells in the development of pioneering new therapies. One area we’re researching is how we might be able to genetically engineer NK cells from cord blood to boost their cancer-fighting capacity – it’s preliminary work but hugely exciting.
“Another important thing that makes us especially interested in NK cells from cord blood is that they do not need to be genetically matched to patients – meaning they can be an ‘off-the-shelf’ therapy. This means faster treatment for any patient in need.”
