Source: Arizona Daily Star

Tucson is the site of an unprecedented public program to save umbilical-cord blood for babies at risk of developing cerebral palsy.

Though there's been no scientific proof that it works, leaders of the new cord-blood program see possibilities in using stem cells from the rich blood that remains in the placenta and in the attached umbilical cord to regenerate cells, replacing damaged ones.

The Tucson Medical Center-based "Newborn Possibilities" program recently began storing umbilical-cord blood from newborns thought to be at risk at no cost to their families.

There are about 6,000 births at TMC each year, and the one-year program expects to bank the cord blood of nearly 700 newborns.

Normally, there is a one-time fee of $2,195, with a yearly storage fee of $125. The program will store the cord blood for five years free of charge. Typically, a diagnosis of cerebral palsy occurs within the first five years of life.

Cord Blood Registry in Tucson is paying the processing fees and the public storage. Ideally, additional funding will become available to make the program permanent, said Charis Ober, co-founder of the local nonprofit Save the Cord Foundation, one of the program's partners.

The idea behind storing the blood is that it could be used to help the body repair damage to nerve and brain tissue. A growing body of published data on cord- blood research indicates that infused stem cells help injured brain cells recover and replace brain cells that have died.

"When we are talking about devastating neurological disease in a child with no affirmative therapy, we should look at anything that might have the promise of being restorative," said Dr. Hugh Miller, a high-risk obstetrician. He is participating in the new public program as medical director of the Watching Over Mothers and Babies Foundation (WOMB), a local nonprofit research foundation.

"While I don't believe this therapy has proven to be restorative, there is virtually no risk. There is possibility," he said.

Miller said he knows of no program in the world that has ever tried to target this particular at-risk population. Program leaders are using an algorithm to determine which babies are at risk of cerebral palsy. Among factors they consider are premature babies born at less than 37 weeks, Miller said.

"You never know who is going to develop cerebral palsy and other major neurological problems," he said. "But babies born at less than 37 weeks comprise a significant number of babies that are going to go on to develop cerebral palsy."

The cord blood of some 310,000 newborns from all over the world is already stored at the 18-year-old Cord Blood Registry facility in Tucson. Cord Blood Registry, which is a private for-profit company, says it is the largest stem-cell bank in the world.

Donated umbilical-cord blood has proved successful in treating and even curing many blood cancers and anemias - most notably childhood leukemia. But infusing a child with his or her own cord blood for regenerative purposes is a relatively new concept.

Cerebral palsy has no cure and limited treatment options. It is a chronic condition that affects body movement and muscle coordination, as well as other areas such as vision, learning and speech.

The precise mechanisms that cause the brain injury resulting in cerebral palsy are still not known, but it is believed that most injury is caused by damage to the brain either through lack of oxygen or blood circulation that typically occurs before, during or shortly after birth. About two to three children in 1,000 are affected by the condition.

The Newborn Possibilities program is not a research study, program leaders stressed. But Tom Moore, Cord Blood Registry's chief executive officer, said he hopes the program will help to advance the science of regenerative medicine.

Stem cells harvested from the umbilical-cord blood are frozen and stored in giant stainless-steel flasks called dewars that keep the units of blood in liquid nitrogen at a temperature of minus-354 degrees Fahrenheit. Umbilical-cord blood arrives at the facility by medical courier 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

"It's about a half a cup of blood, and very rich in stem cells, which is what does the repairing. They are like smart pills," Moore said. "They migrate to the area of deficit and get the body to initiate repair. It's kind of amazing. It's like the maestro in the orchestra."

Ober, of Save the Cord, hopes the program will have a dual effect - helping children and families while also creating awareness of the advantages of storing cord blood.

"It's biological life insurance," Ober said. "Our message to families is just don't throw it away. Whether you save it for yourself or your family, don't let it become medical waste.

"What we'd like to do is make this program a model for the rest of the nation, where other hospitals and teaching institutions can duplicate this and really make collecting cord blood from newborns the standard of care."

Both Save the Cord and Cord Blood Registry have examples of families who believe the cord blood has helped improve their children's medical outcomes from cerebral palsy and brain injury.

One is the family of Chloe Levine, a little girl who suffered an in-utero stroke. Her family, which had been living in Arizona when Chloe was born, credits cord blood for vastly improving her condition, including partial paralysis on her right side. Now Chloe walks and runs like any other child, they say.

"The families that have seen dramatic changes in behavior and function of their children represent the possibility of a dawn of a new therapy," Miller said. "We believe this program will be instrumental in accelerating the pace of research and potentially helping many children. Medicine is borne on the backs of ideas that lead to innovation that leads to new types of therapy."

On StarNet: Stephanie Innes brings you the latest health information in her blog, Tucson Health and Wellness, at go.azstarnet.com/health

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