Stem cell storage FAQs

1. What can stem cells be used for today?

Currently, stem cells from cord blood are the routine treatment for over 80 different blood and immune diseases and cancers, predominantly using donor cells. Conditions treated include leukaemia, lymphoma, neuroblastoma, anaemia and many more.

2. What could stem cells be used for in the future?

The potential uses for stem cells in therapy appear to be vast. At present there are more than 7,500 clinical trials investigating the application of stem cells to treat a range of common and often life-threatening conditions including Alzheimer’s, spinal damage, heart disease and diabetes. Should these clinical trials prove successful and transition to standard of care, by saving your baby’s stem cells you could help to protect their health throughout their life.

1. What does stem cell storage cost?

Prices start from £550 for a cord blood only service plus an annual fee. With Cells4Life, you can choose to make your baby’s package more comprehensive with optional extras like cord tissue, amnion and placental cells giving your baby the widest range of cells available.

You can also store cord blood, cord tissue, placenta cells and amnion in multiple portions across two separate storage locations. This enables the possibility of multiple treatments, if sample volume and cell count allow, and ensures extra protection in the unlikely event of a disaster.

2. When are the payments due?

Cells4Life charges a deposit of £210 prior to birth in order to provide your cord blood collection kit and set up the service. If you require a licensed third-party to collect your baby’s cells, the phlebotomy fee is also due before your baby is born. We do not require the remainder of this balance until after the birth and once we have performed tests to confirm that the stem cells are viable and suitable for storage. If the viability of your baby’s sample falls below 70% we will give you the option to continue to store the cells, or destroy them and pay no further fees.

3. What payment plans are available?

We give you the option to spread the remaining balance after birth for any period up to 12 months for an administration fee of just £20 per month.

4. Is there any special pricing for multiple births?

We offer a 50% reduction on our cord blood and cord tissue stem cell storage services for each additional child of the same birth.

5. Is there any reduction if you have used Cells4Life to store your baby’s stem cells before?

If you have used our services to store stem cells for your other children, you will receive to a £150 reduction from your total balance.

1. How do I set up stem cell storage with Cells4Life?

To set up your baby’s cord blood banking, you simply need to complete and return your consent forms and pay a deposit of just £210. We will then provide you with your collection kit and assign your phlebotomist, so that everything is set up and ready to go on the big day.

2. What happens on the day?

When you go into labour, all you need to do is bring your collection kit with you to the hospital and contact your phlebotomist to let them know that your baby is on the way. They will wait until your baby arrives and the umbilical cord is clamped and cut, before performing the stem cell collection in a separate room using your collection kit. Once the sample has been collected, they will hand the kit back to your birthing partner who will just need to contact our 24/7 dedicated medical courier. Our courier will arrive in around 1-2 hours to collect the sample and bring it directly back to our laboratory. We will process your baby’s cord blood within 12-24 hours, test it and place it into long-term storage, ready and waiting if your baby or your family need to use it.

3. What information will I receive about my baby’s stem cells?

Once we have processed your baby’s stem cells, we will contact you within two working days to let you know the results. This will include the volume of blood received, the viability of the cells and the maternal test results. After 7-14 days, we will also provide you with the sterility testing results and once you pay the remaining balance, a certificate of storage.

4. How do I access the cells if they are needed?

To access the cells you simply need to complete our sample request form and provide us with permission to liaise with the treating physician. We will then arrange everything with your doctor, to ensure that the cells are shipped and prepared for the date of treatment.

5. What happens if I move to a different country?

We provide our service to clients all over the world and have experience in cord blood releases for treatments outside of the UK. If you move abroad we simply ask that you provide us with your updated contact details so that we can stay in touch, and the sample request process will work in exactly the same way as it does for our UK service.

6. If I choose delayed cord clamping can I also have my cord blood collected?

Yes you can. Umbilical cord stem cell collection is possible whatever your birth plan and should never get in the way of what you want to do. A NHS study showed that delaying clamping for 1-2 minutes did not significantly impact on collection volume or TNC. If you opt to delay the clamping period beyond 2 minutes the cord blood may start to clot making collection more difficult. However, our CellsPlus service provide more stem cells at the point of therapy that other industry leading systems, meaning even smaller samples collected after an extended delay may still be useful, and, even if it is not possible to collect any blood, we will almost certainly be able to collect stem cells from cord tissue.

1. What is the difference between other processing methods and CellsPlus?

CellsPlus provides up to 2.2 times more stem cells at the point of treatment than Cells, our industry standard service, which is also trusted by the NHS*. Clinical guidelines for stem cell transplants are often based on cell count. Therefore, the goal of CellsPlus is simple: to recover as many viable cells as we can. This is why it is the UK’s most popular service.

2. Can I use my baby’s stem cells multiple times?

Most cord blood banks store your baby’s cord blood as one unit, meaning that no matter how little of the sample is needed for treatment, the entire sample must be thawed for use. We can split your baby’s cord blood into multiple samples, meaning that, depending on the cell count requirements of the therapy, we can thaw smaller amounts leaving the remainder in storage for future treatments. This has already enabled one of our clients to receive multiple stem cell transfusions during a clinical trial therapy for acquired brain injury.

3. Where will the stem cells be stored?

We store all of our UK clients’ samples at our UK facilities. You can opt to store your baby’s cord blood, tissue and amnion across two of our sites, giving you ultimate protection in the unlikely event of a problem at one of them.

We also have dedicated stem cell storage facilities in Dubai and Indianapolis for clients delivering in the UAE and USA.

1. What are stem cells?

Simply put, stem cells are the building blocks of life. They are capable of ‘specialising’ or ‘differentiating’ into almost any tissue type, and are responsible for renewing the body. When stem cells divide, they make more of themselves and other cell types. This proliferation is what makes transplantation effective.

2. Where do stem cells come from?

1 – Embryonic stem cells
Derived from embryos aged three-to-five days, this kind of stem cell is incredibly powerful. They are pluripotent, which means they are capable of becoming any and all possible tissue types. However, there are some ethical concerns with this stem cell source as the embryo is destroyed as a result.

2 – Adult stem cells
Stem cells exist throughout the human body but their number rapidly declines as we age. These cells can be taken from the brain, bone marrow, fat, blood, blood vessels, skeletal muscles, skin and liver.

3 – Perinatal stem cells
Umbilical cord blood, cord tissue and the placenta are the richest sources of perfectly matched stem cells that your baby will ever have access to. They are more naïve than adult stem cells, meaning that they are more powerful and they do not have the ethical issues associated with embryonic stem cells.

There is also a newly discovered stem cell type…

Induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs) were discovered in 2006 by Nobel Prize winners, Shinya Yamanaka and Sir John Gurdon. These are skin or blood cells that scientists have reprogrammed back to an embryonic-like pluripotent state. They can propagate indefinitely, as well as give rise to all cell types in the body. Because of this, they hold enormous potential for regenerative medicine. The risk with IPSCs is that we do not yet know how they behave in the human body or whether they could result in cancers. They still require intensive testing to demonstrate safety.

3. Why are stem cells important?

When we are injured, sick or diseased, our cells are damaged or killed. Stem cells are the body’s own repair system. They replenish cells and help us to recover. Without them, the body would be unable to repair and would suffer considerable wear and tear. Sometimes our own stem cells need some extra help and can’t manage the whole repair on their own, which is why stem cell banking is so important.

4. What are stem cells currently used for?

Stem cells are currently used to treat more than 80 conditions worldwide. These are mainly blood disorders, such as leukaemia, anaemia and cancer of the bone marrow, most often treated using donor stem cells.

Some families have also chosen to take part in clinical trials, and we have released several samples for experimental treatments in the USA for conditions including brain injury, cerebral palsy, and autism. Stem cell therapy is also being investigated in clinical trials for conditions such as MS, diabetes, stroke and many more.