The University of Colorado has received a $1 million federal grant to help expand the inventory of stem-cell-rich infant umbilical-cord blood.
The grant is part of $12 million awarded to six cord-blood banks around the country by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
CU could get up to $6.6 million over the next three years to add up to 4,600 cord-blood units, if Congress continues funding the program.
The CU bank already has about 6,000 units of cord blood. The federal contract will enable it to expand that inventory to more than 10,000.
The need for Latino, Asian and African-American cord blood is critical, and the federal grant includes guidelines for collecting cord blood from minority populations. In Colorado, that means a special emphasis on Latino donors, said said Brian Freed, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado medical school.
Currently, Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins is the only cord-blood donation site for CU’s bank, Freed said.
CU plans to use the grant to expand collections to the University of Colorado Hospital and Denver Health Medical Center.
Infants’ cord blood, and the stem cells it contains, can be used in bone marrow transplants in patients with no suitable family donor, Freed said.
Bone-marrow transplants are used to treat several kinds of cancer, including leukemia.
Freed said there is growing evidence that cord blood can be superior to bone marrow because the body’s immune system is less likely to attack the cord blood cells.
“We estimate there are 10,000 patients a year who could benefit from a bone-marrow transplant that don’t get one,” Freed said.
Staff writer Karen Augé can be reached at 303-954-1733 or kauge@denverpost.com.
