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. 2015 Jan;21(1):50-4.
doi: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2014.09.002. Epub 2014 Sep 28.

Impact of long-term cryopreservation on single umbilical cord blood transplantation outcomes

Richard Mitchell  1 , John E Wagner  1 , Claudio G Brunstein  2 , Qing Cao  3 , David H McKenna  4 , Troy C Lund  1 , Michael R Verneris  5
Affiliations

Impact of long-term cryopreservation on single umbilical cord blood transplantation outcomes

Richard Mitchell et al. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2015 Jan.

Abstract

Umbilical cord blood (UCB) may be collected and cryopreserved for years before use. In vitro and murine models suggest that the duration of storage does not affect UCB progenitor cell performance; however, the impact of UCB age on clinical outcomes has not been definitely defined. This study sought to determine the effect of UCB unit cryopreservation time on hematopoietic potency. We analyzed 288 single UCB units used for transplantation from 1992 to 2013, with unit cryopreservation time ranging from .08 to 11.07 years. UCB unit post-thaw characteristics were examined, including percent recovery of total nucleated cells (TNC). The number of years the UCB unit spent in cryopreservation had no impact on TNC recovery nor UCB unit post-thaw viability. Duration of cryopreservation also had no impact on neutrophil or platelet engraftment in single UCB transplantations. These results show that UCB units can undergo cryopreservation for at least 10 years with no impact on clinical outcomes.

Keywords: Neutrophil recovery; UCB storage time; UCB transplantation; Umbilical cord blood (UCB).

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Umbilical cord blood units by duration of cryopreservation. A total of 62 umbilical cord blood units were cryopreserved for more than 5 years. (UCB – umbilical cord blood unit)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Post-thaw nucleated cell viability (a) and total nucleated cell recovery (b) based on umbilical cord blood unit duration of cryopreservation. There was no statistically significant difference in post-thaw nucleated cell viability (p = 0.58) or total nucleated cell recovery (p = 0.98) based on duration of cryopreservation. (TNC – total nucleated cell; UCB – umbilical cord blood unit)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Post-thaw nucleated cell viability (a) and total nucleated cell recovery (b) based on umbilical cord blood unit duration of cryopreservation. There was no statistically significant difference in post-thaw nucleated cell viability (p = 0.58) or total nucleated cell recovery (p = 0.98) based on duration of cryopreservation. (TNC – total nucleated cell; UCB – umbilical cord blood unit)
Figure 3
Figure 3
Time to neutrophil (a) and platelet (b) engraftment based on umbilical cord blood unit duration of cryopreservation. (a) There was no statistically significant difference in time to neutrophil engraftment based on duration of cryopreservation (p = 0.38). (b) Umbilical cord blood units that were cryopreserved for 4.1–5 years had a longer time to platelet engraftment than units that were cryopreserved for shorter or longer time periods (p = 0.03). (UCB – umbilical cord blood unit)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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