Qld Chord Blood Bank Record

In December 2007, the Queensland Cord Blood Bank (QCBB) at the Mater released a record four Cord Blood Units (CBU) for the month. One CBU was released to an Australian transplant centre, while the other three went to international transplant centres in the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands.

Cord blood banking is the ultimate form of medical recycling. Blood from the umbilical cord and placenta is collected from consenting mothers following delivery and is then processed, tested and cryopreserved to provide a HLA typed repository that can be accessed for patients worldwide requiring a haematopoietic stem cell transplant.

Director of the Cord Blood Bank and one of Mater Pathology’s Chief Scientists, Dr Robyn Rodwell said there is a great increase in demand for CBU now as dual CBU transplants in adults are being used in clinical trials throughout the world.

“Data presented at the recent Paris Cord Blood Bank meeting showed that engraftment in adults is 93% with dual CBU transplants—a major advance over using a single CBU in adults where engraftment failure often occurred due to the sub-optimal cell dose,” said Dr Rodwell.

“Interestingly, only one of the CBUs ultimately survives long-term and currently there is no predictor of which CBU will engraft. It is not necessarily the CBU that appears the better HLA match for the patient nor the CBU with the higher cell dose.”