Stem Cell Preservation FAQ’s

Vascular Tissue is being stored as a source of endothelial cells which can be used for tissue engineering aspects if required in the future. One example of tissue engineering is mentioned below:

Pre-vascularization of Bone Grafts: The repair of bone defects caused by trauma, infection, or tumor resection is a major clinical orthopedic challenge. The application of bone grafts in orthopedic procedures is associated with a problem of inadequate vascularization in the initial phase after implantation. It has been found that endothelial cells found in the vascular part of Umbilical Cord Tissue (i.e. Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVECs) can be used for pre-vascularization of bone grafts before implantation.

As Cryoviva Singapore is following very stringent quality control at each step starting from Cord Blood/Tissue collection followed by transportation, processing, testing, cryostorage, and retrieval (if required), the chance of unsuccessful storage is very less. Although in terms of parameter, it may be due to the following issues:

a. Contamination of Cord Blood and/or cord tissue product: < 2%

b. Low viability of cord blood and tissue stem cells: very rare <0.1%

c. Low stem cell count: (case dependent) although the probability is low

At present, cord tissue is being stored as a source of stem cells so that if in the near future regulatory authority will allow the use of cord tissue stem cells for the treatment of various diseases then cord tissue stem cells can be readily available. Another option is the transfer of cord tissue samples from Singapore to another country (i.e. Thailand) for further use in treatment

Stem cells can be deployed systemically via IV (Intravenous therapy) or injected locally to target specific sites, depending on patient needs. IV route can be used for stem cell treatment of brain injury, COVID-19, systemic lupus erythematosus, body rejuvenation, and many others. Localized treatment can be used for infertility, erectile dysfunction, aesthetic, knee arthritis, spinal injury, and so on. Some diseases such as cardiovascular disease can be treated by stem cell introduction using IV or localized injection. Actually which mode of stem cell transplantation is used will depend on the disease type and sometimes the doctor's choice too.

It will depend on the disease type and whether it is hereditary. First, we have to understand the difference between hereditary disease and genetic disease.

Difference between hereditary and genetic disease: The main difference between these two terms lies in the fact that hereditary diseases have the potential of being carried from one generation to another whereas a genetic disease can either be hereditary or not, but there will always be a mutational change in the genome.

If cord blood stem cells also have a genetic change that is hereditary in nature and leads to diseases such as in the case of beta-thalassemia and sickle cell Anemia, then they cannot be treated by the baby's own cord blood stem cells. If a disease is caused by a genetic change that happened after birth therefore cord blood stem cells do not contain that genetic change then it can be treated (i.e. such as leukemia, lymphoma)

CD markers "Cluster of Differentiation" are cell surface proteins that either work as ligands or receptors. Each cell has a different type of CD marker on its surface. Cord blood stem cells have CD34. The purity of Cells cultured or isolated can be characterized by performing CD marker testing. Such as MSC can be characterized by testing positive and negatively expressed CD markers which are:

1. Positively expressed; CD73, CD90 and CD 105 - expression should be >95%

2. Negatively expressed: CD34, CD45 and HLA-DR- expression should be <2%

To test the potency of stem cells. Stem cells have two properties:

They can divide and maintain their number without differentiation into the particular cell type

They have the potency to differentiate into specific cell types as per requirement.

Cell differentiation assay is a method to check the potency of cultured stem cells and whether they can differentiate or not. Cultured MSC can differentiate into adipocytes, chondrocytes and osteocytes, and islet cells

It means you are doing the initial processing by explant and keeping cells. We don't culture cells to multiply, since by regulation in Singapore companies are not allowed. Future when they allow you can multiply cells.

Cord blood collection can be performed with Delayed cord clamping (DCC), however, DCC will result in Low cord blood volume and subsequently Low Total nucleated cell count (TNCC) in processed cord blood unit which may result in disqualification of cord blood unit in terms of stem cell number for treatment in future. As DCC have many advantages for preterm and term babies therefore It is the authority of the doctor performing delivery to decide whether DCC is required or not.

Theoretically, Stem cells can be preserved indefinitely and will preserve biological activity. However, research studies have proved that cord blood stem cells preserved for 23.5 years still provide acceptable recovery of cell viability. Since stem cell banking is a recently evolved area of biological science therefore scientific data is only for 23.5 years.

Stem cell "No Expiration Date" when cryopreserved. The expiry time is defined at the time of stem cell preparation for transplant.