The number of umbilical cord blood samples in storage in Korea has increased to near 500,000 as public awareness has grown of its potential use in treating cancers and genetic diseases, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Cord blood collection began 13 years ago and the number of samples reached 497,095 as of June, with the growth rate averaging 10 percent since mid-2000s.

The data showed 90.4 percent of the samples were for the donor or family members and 9.6 percent for anonymous recipients.

Cord blood contains hematopoietic stem cells, which could be used for incurable diseases such as leukemia or aplastic anemia.

However, actual usage of cord blood is low compared to the amount stored. There were only 9,504 reported cases of cord blood use, or 1.9 percent of the total number of samples.

All cord blood banks in Korea are privately run.

One such private business went bankrupt in 2005 and Seoul Cord Bank, the second-largest cord bank with 90,000 clients, is currently without a license. The government banned it from collecting new blood after it failed to meet the ministry’s new rules on quality control in February.

The ministry established a regulation concerning cord blood management and experimentation last July.

The government plans to reinforce oversight including regular evaluations and assessments every two years.

The government also plans to increase the amount of donated cord blood, bone marrow and other organic material to obtain a stable supply of donated hematopoietic stem cells.

There were more cases of using donated cord blood (626 cases) than one’s own (334 cases). Doctors say it is not medically effective to transplant one’s own cord blood in cases like leukemia as there are genetic factors involved.

By Sang Youn-joo (sangyj@heraldcorp.com)