Investing emotionally and financially in finding the right stem cell match: Crucial points to remember

Dr Chirayu Padhiar, Senior Medical Director-LifeCell Diagnostics highlights the key aspects of stem cell therapy

Stem cell therapy and its benefits

Stem cells are adaptable, versatile cells in one’s body that are capable of complex actions, unlike conventional medication. These cells act as regenerative medicine designed to repair damaged cells within the body by reducing inflammation and modulating the immune system. Stem cells work by taking advantage of the body’s natural healing and regeneration abilities.

Hematopoietic stem cells can be employed to treat a variety of blood disorders. ​Stem Cell Transplants are growing in popularity by the day, and more  people are opting to preserve their baby’s stem cells due to their various benefits proven by the day. Apart from the benefits stem cells already offer, they are also being researched as a potential treatment option for type-2 diabetes, Autism, Cerebral Palsy and certain cardio-vascular complications.

Scenario at present for stem cell transplants in India

About 60,000 stem cell transplants are performed globally each year, with roughly 2000 transplants occurring in India. However, the required number of transplants is roughly 1 lakh per year, which means that just one out of every 50 patients receives a transplant. Nationally, there is a substantial disparity between the number of transplants required and the number of transplants performed. This discrepancy arises from the fact that awareness for the procedure is generally low, as well as the fact that finding a stem cell match in order to procure a unit and undergo a transplant is a lengthy process in India. Many patients who choose stem cell treatments don’t follow through because there aren’t enough stem cell matches available.

Benefits that come with registering with a cord blood bank during childbirth

In comparison to the western population, India’s gene pool has a lot of variability, which makes finding a perfect match more difficult. According to a 2014 study, the average proportion of people in India who would have a 10/10 adult donor match ranged from 14.4 per cent with a registry size of 25,000 to 60.6 per cent with a registry size of 10,000,000. In a 25-person Umbilical Cord Blood Registry, 96.4 percent of people would discover a 4/6 match, while only 18.3 percent would find a 6/6 match. For a country like India, this implies that a vast and widespread registration would be required.

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation can treat leukaemia and lymphomas that are resistant to medicines, including newly developed ones. (Some malignancies have no medications to treat them, or have drugs that are very expensive and do not guarantee a greater survival rate than stem cell therapy) There are also certain side effects to stem cell therapy, such as graft vs host disease, but they can be significantly reduced  just with closer match between the donor and the recipient.

Advantages of going with a community cord blood bank over public banks

In the community cord blood banking model, a parent who has saved their baby’s cord blood unit with us has access to it as well as any other unit from the community if needed. The baby whose cord blood unit is stored, as well as her siblings, parents, and grandparents on both sides, have access (maternal and paternal). As a result, the family can obtain cord blood units for 8-10 members of the family by storing one baby’s unit. There are no additional fees for retrieving the unit.

In a country like India, with a huge genetic diversity , a public cord blood registry would need to be quite large; at least 2.5 lacs high-quality cord blood units would be required. Despite the fact that the technology has been present for more than two decades, this demands an expenditure of Rs 400 to 500 crores, which is a big price.

In the unfortunate event that one requires a transplant, and needs to obtain a matched stem cell unit from the bone marrow registry, the complete procedure of finding the correct matched donor and then procuring the stem cells would take somewhere between 3-4 months. In addition, depending on which registry one approaches, one might have to pay a sum between 8 and 20 lakhs rupees., for a single  unit of matching stem cells. If another unit is required, they would have to spend the same amount of money.

The community banked units at a community cord blood bank like LifeCell, are already typed for HLA, the search procedure takes only a day or two, and the stem cells are sent to the hospital within two weeks; anywhere in India. Furthermore, there are no additional costs associated with obtaining the stem cells. There’s also no limit to the number of units one can procure.