The Anthony Nolan Cord Blood Programme was established in 2008 to help meet the unmet need for transplants. Since its inception, the collection programme has procured over 50,000 cord blood units in total, which has resulted in an inventory of nearly 10,000 high quality cords suitable for transplant.
Find out more about how our cord blood bank operates, our cord collection programme and the range of services we offer to help transplant centres select the best possible cord units for their patients.
The history of using cord
Cord blood has long been established as a suitable source of stems cells capable of replenishing a patient’s bone marrow in a transplant setting. Early work by Hal Broxmeyer demonstrated the clinical utility of cord blood for transplantation, which led to the first cord blood transplant taking place in France by Eliane Gluckman for a patient with Fanconi’s anaemia.
Pablo Rubinstein subsequently carried out a feasibility study for the adoption of cord blood for unrelated transplants. The success of this study subsequently led to a global network of cord blood banks routinely storing cord blood for patients in need. To date there are over 750,000 cord blood units stored globally and over 50,000 cord blood transplants have taken place.
Cord blood transplants have successfully cured patients with a variety of life-limiting conditions, including:
- Blood Malignancies (Leukaemia, Lymphoma)
- Bone Marrow Failure syndromes
- Haemoglobinopathies (Blood disorders such as sickle cell anaemia and thalassaemia)
- Immunodeficiencies
- Metabolic disorders