Cell Safe: Banking Stem Cells for a Healthier Future

Cell Safe

Banking Stem Cells for a Healthier Future

Published in Identity Magazine October 2010

Written by: Nevine A. Abaza

Based on an interview with: Dr. Hisham Issa, General and Medical Manager of Cell Safe Cord Blood Bank

It breaks our hearts when dear ones die from an incurable disease. When we first hear the news, we know they are doomed, and we feel helpless as we watch them fade away from our lives. For every disease there is a cure; only some cures are yet to be discovered. Only a few years ago did we start learning of what seemed like a new medical fad that gave hope to a healthier future, promising a cure for some incurable diseases by simply storing our babies’ cord blood in a special blood bank. People stood still in wonder: are we being hoaxed? Is it only a fad? The truth is, it is a medical blessing in discovery, and the technology is available within our reach. Cell Safe, the first cord blood bank to open in Egypt, offers us hope for a healthier life.

What Is Cord Blood Banking?

Preserving your newborn’s stem cells is called cord blood banking and allows you to have your baby’s cord blood saved for potential medical uses to treat life-threatening diseases. If you choose not to bank your baby’s cord blood, it will be discarded after birth.

What Is the Importance of Cord Blood Banking?

Cord blood banking is very important for the family; you have to save these stem cells. One of the important things about cord blood banking is that it is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and families have to save these cells or they won’t be able to find pure stem cells again. Now there are around 80 diseases that have been approved by the WHO as treatable by stem cells, and in some cases it is the only known treatment of the disease, such as leukemia, for example.

How Is Cord Blood Collected?

Cord blood banking involves several steps, including collection, processing, and storage. Cord blood collection is a simple, safe, and painless procedure that usually takes less than five minutes and is performed after vaginal or caesarean births. After your baby has been born and the cord has been clamped and cut, the blood will be drawn from the umbilical cord before it is discarded.

What Happens to the Cord Blood After It’s Collected?

After your baby’s cord blood has been collected and sealed, the cord blood is transferred to a processing facility by private medical courier for processing and storage.

Your baby’s cord blood stem cell unit is tested to check, among other things, how many stem cells there are. When we know that everything is OK, the stem cell unit is divided into two portions for your exclusive use in the private bank. Both portions are then placed in safe storage. Once all the testing is completed, we get in touch to tell you the results. Once the results of the cord blood sample are confirmed as clear, we are then allowed to place the cord blood unit into long-term cryogenic storage.

Since When Did Cell Safe Start?

We have been preparing for a couple of years now and have been operating since March 2009. However, awareness and marketing only started in December 2009, so we consider this year to be the true beginning of Cell Safe.

What Is the Importance of Using a Cord Blood Bank in Egypt?

Cord blood samples used to be sent abroad, but the problem with sending samples abroad is that it takes a long time. If a sample is sent on Thursday, it reaches the United States on Sunday, and because Sunday is a vacation, they start processing samples on Monday or Tuesday. That’s almost a week, so half of the cells are dead. Here we process samples on the same day, which is a huge advantage. A few months ago there was a volcano, and many samples were kept in the airport for more than 10 days, so samples were destroyed and the opportunity was lost.

The initial cause of starting this bank was that my best friend passed away from leukemia, and we couldn’t find stem cells for him. That is when the idea of opening a stem cell bank started. I guess everyone knows one or two people who have leukemia. When leukemia hits, it hits anyone. When somebody suffers from a disease like leukemia, which has no other known cure than stem cells, by the time you start searching for matching stem cells, it’s too late, especially since we didn’t have a stem cell bank in Egypt. Our bank is a family bank; stem cells are not sold to anyone who needs them, they are stored for families.

Abroad, yes, you can find stem cells, but they would cost almost 50,000 sterling pounds, and it’s still a chance—you might not find matching stem cells due to ethnic differences. As an Egyptian going into a different ethnic group looking for stem cells, it is very difficult to find a match. This is why it is preferable that you preserve your family’s stem cells.

After Processing, Is It Possible That Stem Cells Are Not Enough?

Yes. Usually, the number of stem cells collected from cord blood ranges from half a million to three or four million stem cells. Sometimes, when the baby is underweight, prematurely born, or the mother has health problems like diabetes, the count becomes less than half a million. In this case, we give the parents the choice of whether they would like to continue or not.

For example, diabetes is treated with half a million stem cells, while leukemia requires around one and a half million. If you store four hundred thousand stem cells, you might not be able to benefit from them in Egypt. Abroad, there is something called the expansion technique, where stem cells are placed in a culture medium, and after 10 days you can have four million stem cells. In Egypt, this service is not yet available, but we hope to implement it by the end of the year, and by January it should be available.

From now until that time, if the count is less than half a million, we give the parents the choice to keep or discard the sample. If they choose to discard it, we return their money.

How Are Egyptians Accepting the Idea of a Stem Cell Bank?

The rate is increasing more and more. Most educated people know about the importance of stem cells, but they did not know that the service was available in Egypt. Those who knew did not trust the service until they visited the facility and saw that 95% of the work is done by robots. This increased their confidence, especially when they saw our FDA certificates for the machines, our RSVT license, and our international standard barcode.

Now, if you travel to France, for example, with the sample and scan the code there, it will tell you that this is a stem cell sample belonging to this person and that it was stored in Egypt on a specific date. This is how advanced the system is.

How Advanced Is Cell Safe Compared to Blood Banks Worldwide?

Cell Safe is in the process of obtaining international accreditation by AABB (the American Association of Blood Banks). We are one of the organizations registered in this accreditation program, which will be completed by November 15. After that, Cell Safe will be listed internationally.

We passed the ISBT, which is the first international license we obtained. We aim to be one of the leading banks worldwide, especially in our region, because it is much easier and more convenient to send a sample to Egypt to be processed within 24 hours than sending samples abroad to be processed three to four days later, risking the loss of valuable cells.

Is It Possible for Stem Cells to Be Misplaced?

Stem cells are placed in a metal jacket; everyone has their own safe, like in a regular bank. Your cells are placed in your own safe, which has a barcode. You have a copy and we have a copy. It is picked automatically by the robot. When the barcode is given, it retrieves the sample. The process is automated, and there is no chance for error.

Is It Truly Possible to Keep Stem Cells Alive for 20 Years or More?

The first sample stored was in 1986, and it is still alive today, so it has been alive for 24 years. Hypothetically, if samples stayed alive for 24 years, they should last even longer. In the past, freezing rooms were not properly designed to maintain −200 degrees consistently. The technology Cell Safe uses does not require opening the freezer at any time, as samples are inserted by robots. The freezer has a 24/7 temperature monitor, an alarm system, an external backup freezer, and is connected to General Electric software in the United States for nonstop monitoring and immediate backup if needed.

Can Cord Blood Stem Cells Cure Heart and Liver Diseases?

Patients can use their stem cells to treat any of the 80 diseases proven to be curable through direct stem cell injection. Leukemias, lymphomas, and bone marrow failure are blood diseases and are treatable by direct injection. For non-blood diseases, stem cell therapy must be applied prior to use. This process is not yet licensed in Egypt.

Some people incorrectly inject stem cells directly into organs like the liver or heart and claim cures. In reality, stem cells must be purified and conditioned in an environment similar to the target organ. This process is complex and costly. True stem cell therapies cost an average of 120,000 pounds, while current therapies offered in Egypt range from 3,000–10,000 pounds and do not reflect the true science of stem cells.

Is It Too Late for Adults to Store Their Stem Cells?

No, it is not too late. Adults can still store their stem cells, although families may benefit from their children’s stored stem cells. Our next step is to create an adult stem cell bank. Adult stem cells can be extracted from bone marrow, separated, and stored.

Why Are Cord Blood Stem Cells More Important?

Cord blood stem cells are the richest and purest source of stem cells. Adult stem cells are exposed to infections and pollution, while cord blood stem cells are untouched and pure. In 2009, the European Society of Stem Cell Ethics concluded that cord blood stem cells are the most malleable and effective for treatment. Leukemia is a cancer of stem cells, so it is impossible to store stem cells from a leukemic patient. This makes cord blood banking essential. In the United States, over six million cord blood stem cell samples are stored, and in England, over one and a half million. Hopefully, in Egypt, this will soon become routine practice.