Evaluation of factors affecting total nucleated cells in umbilical cord blood collected for the Calabria Cord Blood Bank.

Background: Total nucleated cell (TNC) count is the most important biological feature to consider in assessing the quality of umbilical cord blood (UCB) for hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation. Certain obstetric factors have been reported to increase TNC count in UCB units collected for transplantation. The aim of our study was to analyze how various maternal, neonatal and obstetric factors affected TNC count in the UCBs we collected for our cord blood bank in southern Italy.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of 634 medical records of UCBs collected by Calabria Cord Blood Bank (CCBB), Reggio Calabria, Italy, between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2016. We analyzed various maternal, neonatal and obstetric variables factors and related this factor with the characteristic of TNC.

Results: We found that the average number of TNCs was significantly greater in vaginal delivery than in caesarean delivery. We also found that TNCs were higher in the 40^th week of pregnancy and when Apgar 1' scores were ≤9. The effect of a newborn's gender was less evident on TNC count.

Conclusions: Knowledge of factors predictive of a higher TNC count would help cord blood banks more efficiently identify donors likely to yield high-quality UCBs for transplantation.