Analysis of stored and transplanted cord blood units from KoreaCORD: reappraisal of banking guidelines and selection strategy

Abstract

We analyzed the characteristics of stored and transplanted cord blood (CB) units from the Korean network for public CB donation (KoreaCORD) to reassess the banking guidelines and optimize CB selection based on cell dose and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) mismatching. We retrospectively reviewed data, with regard to total nucleated cell (TNC) count and HLA match in the KoreaCORD registry from August 2001 to December 2010. A total of 21,914 CB units have been registered, of which 904 units (4.1%) contained less than 5 × 10(8) TNCs, which did not meet the present storage criteria for public CB banking in Korea. Although the proportion of stored CBs providing TNC of 5 × 10(8) to 7.9 × 10(8) was 45.7%, only 22.0% of all transplanted CBs were derived from these stored CBs. In the single CB transplantation setting, 79% (85/108) of CB units provided 4 × 10(7) TNCs/kg or more in the transplanted one-mismatch (1-MM) CB units and 51% (19/37) of CBs provided 6 × 10(7) TNCs/kg or more in the transplanted 2-MM CB units. The minimal requirement of TNCs for banking of CB units for public banking should be evaluated and increased to support the selection of CB units with higher cell doses, especially for use in the 1- and 2-MM transplant settings.