Jeevan’s Public Cord Blood Bank was established in 2007. Through this, Jeevan has been enabling quick and affordable access to high quality stem cells from donated cord blood for transplant to Indian children with Thalassemia or blood cancer. Jeevan is the largest public repository of stem cells from donated cord blood in India. Jeevan currently in cryostorage 6054 units of stem cells from donated cord blood usable for transplantation, subject to HLA match. Jeevan complies with the national standards laid down by the DCGI. Though not accredited, all units were collected and processed according to the Netcord FACT standards . Currently, Jeevan is not accepting cord blood donations.
The process and storage
To ensure the highest quality of the product, Jeevan pays critical attention to all aspects of processing like collection, packing, transportation, harvesting stem cells, cryopreservation stem cell units.
Once we receive the cord blood units, we process and categorise to decide fitness for clinical use. All units must reach our lab within 40 hours from the time of collection. Further decision to process depends on the number of
TNCC (Fig 1)
- All units are processed with the Sepax S100 automated cell processing system.
- The testing of each cord blood unit includes: Blood grouping, HLA typing (High Resolution), Infectious Disease Marker testing for HIV, HBV, HCV by Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT), Malaria, Syphilis, CMV IgM, bacterial and fungal culture, Haemoglobinopathy screening, cell counts (total nucleated cells and CD34+ cells), CFU and viability.
- Mother’s blood sample is tested for HIV-1 & 2, HTLV-I & II, HBsAg, HCVAb, Syphilis, Malaria and CMV.
- Temperatures within the tanks are monitored continuously and are equipped with an automated recording system. Maximum temperature registered in the warmest part of the tank never exceeds -150°C and after retrieval and transfer not higher than -135°C.
Criteria for release of a unit
In order to obtain the highest quality product Jeevan’s CBU must meet the following minimum requirement to be validated and transferred to the register:
- Total nucleated cells count prior to processing must be more than >100×107.
- Total viable CD34+ cells count prior to cryopreservation must be more than 2.4 X 106
- Viability of CD45+ cells must be higher than 85% prior to cryopreservation.
- Sterile for bacteria and fungi.
- Haemoglobinopathy testing by capillary electrophoresis is negative for abnormal haemoglobin.
- Cord Blood negative for HIV, HCV, HBV by NAT, Malaria, Syphilis (If CMV Ab positive the transplant team is notified before release).
- Maternal blood negative for HIV-1 & 2, HTLV-I & II, HBsAg, HCVAb, Syphilis, Malaria and CMV (If CMV Ab positive the transplant team is notified before release).
- HLA typing by SBT for A, B, C, DRB1and DQB1.
- CBU must have at least 3, attached segments. Each segment usually contains between 70-100μL to provide adequate amounts to perform HLA typing and future testing which may include viability, cell counts, CFU, or IDMs.