Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Special Report
  • Published:

Eleven million donors in Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide! Time for reassessment?

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 41, pages 1–9 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

On 16 November 2005, we celebrated the milestone when 10 million donors had been registered in Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide (BMDW). Since then another million donors have been added in little more than a year. It seems an appropriate time for reassessment and to ask whether we are on the right track or not. We will do so by discussing the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the unrelated stem cell donor operation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9

References

  1. Bosch LJ, Eernisse JG, van Leeuwen A, Loeliger EA, van Rood JJ . Treatment of thrombocytopenic patients with repeated platelet transfusions. Revue Belgique Pathol 1969; 31: 139–141.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bortin MM, Bach FH, van Bekkum DW, Good RA, van Rood JJ . 25th Anniversary of the first successful allogeneic bone marrow transplants. Bone Marrow Transplant 1994; 14: 211–212.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. van Rood JJ . Significance of leukocyte groups in transplantation serology. Bibl Haematol 1971; 37: 53–69.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. van Rood JJ, van Leeuwen A, van den Tweel JG, Blussé van Oud Alblas A, Keuning JJ, Eernisse JG . Typing for MLC determinants and its possible impact on Europdonor. Transplant Proc 1974; 6: 411–415.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Speck B, Zwaan FE, van Rood JJ, Eernisse JG . Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in a patient with aplastic anemia using a phenotypically HL-A-identical unrelated donor. Transplantation 1973; 16: 24–28.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Cleaver S . The Anthony Nolan Research Centre and other matching registries. In: Treleaven J, Barret J (eds). Bone Marrow Transplantation in Practice. Churchill Livingstone: Edinburgh, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Oudshoorn M, van Leeuwen A, van der Zanden HGM, van Rood JJ . Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide: a successful exercise in international cooperation. Bone Marrow Transplant 1994; 14: 3–8.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Rubinstein P, Adamson JW, Stevens C . The Placental/Umbilical Cord Blood Program of the New York Blood Center. A progress report. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1999; 872: 328–334: 334–335 (discussion).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. BMDW Annual Report 2006. Drukkerij Groen, Leiden, 2007.

  10. WMDA Annual Reports 1997–2006. The Annual Reports are available on CD-Rom for members (See WMDA website www.worldmarrow.org).

  11. Heemskerk MB, van Walraven SM, Cornelissen JJ, Barge RM, Bredius RG, Egeler RM et al. How to improve the search for an unrelated haematopoietic stem cell donor. Faster is better than more! Bone Marrow Transplant 2005; 35: 645–652.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Wiegand T, Raffoux C, Hurley CK, Kern M, Oudshoorn M, Raymond J et al. World Marrow Donor Association Quality Assurance Working Group; WMDA Donor Registries Working Group. A special report: suggested procedures for international unrelated donor search from the Donor Registries and Quality Assurance Working Groups of the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA). Bone Marrow Transplant 2005; 34: 97–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Oudshoorn M, van Walraven SM, Bakker JNA, Lie JLWTj, van der Zanden HGM, Heemskerk MB et al. Hematopoietic stem cell donor selection: the Europdonor experience. Hum Immunol 2006; 67: 405–412.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Petersdorf EW, Anasetti C, Martin PJ, Gooley T, Radich J, Malkki M et al. Limits of HLA mismatching in unrelated hemopoietic cell transplantation. Blood 2004; 104: 2976–2980.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Flomenberg N, Baxter-Lowe LA, Confer D, Fernandez-Vina M, Filipovich A, Horowitz M et al. Impact of HLA class I and class II high-resolution matching on outcomes of unrelated donor bone marrow transplantation: HLA-C mismatching is associated with a strong adverse effect on transplantation outcome. Blood 2004; 104: 1923–1930.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Shaw BE, Marsh SG, Mayor NP, Russell NH, Madrigal JA . HLA-DPB1 matching status has significant implications for recipients of unrelated donor stem cell transplants. Blood 2005; 107: 1220–1226.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Kawase T, Morishima Y, Matsuo K, Kashiwase K, Inoko H, Saji H et al. High-risk HLA allele mismatch combinations responsible for severe acute graft versus host disease and implication for its molecular mechanism. Blood 2007; 110: 2235–2241.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Lee SJ, Klein J, Haagenson M, Baxter-Lowe LA, Confer D, Eapen M et al. High resolution donor-recipient HLA matching contributes to the success of unrelated donor marrow transplantation. Blood (in press).

  19. Heemskerk MBA, Cornelissen JJ, Roelen DL, van Rood JJ, Claas FHJ, Doxiadis IIN et al. Highly diverged MHC class I mismatches are acceptable for haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 2007; 40: 193–200.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Petersdorf EW, Malkki M, Gooley TA, Martin PJ, Guo Z . MHC haplotype matching for unrelated hematopoietic cell transplantation. PLoS Med 2007; 4 (in press).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Goulmy E . Minor histocompatibility antigens: from transplantation problems to therapy of cancer. Hum Immunol 2006; 67: 433–438.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. McQueen KL, Dorighi KM, Guethlein LA, Wong R, Sanjanwalta B, Parham P . Donor-recipient combinations of group A and B KIR haplotypes and HLA I ligand affect the outcome of HLA-matched, sibling donor hemopoietic cell transplantation. Hum Immunol 2007; 68: 309–323.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Van Agthoven M, Groot MT, Verdonck LF, Löwenberg B, Schattenberg AVMB, Oudshoorn M et al. Economic study: study: Cost analysis of HLA-identical sibling and voluntary unrelated allogeneic bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cell transplantation in adults and acute myelocytic leukaemia or acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Bone Marrow Transplant 2002; 30: 243–251.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Confer DL, Miller JP . Optimal donor selection: beyond HLA. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 2007; 13 (Suppl 1): 83–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Verdijk RM, Kloosterman A, Pool J, van der Keur M, Naipal AM, van Halteren AG et al. Pregnancy induces minor histocompatibility antigen-specific cytotoxic T cells: implications for stem cell transplantation and immunotherapy. Blood 2004; 103: 1961–1964.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Kollman C, Abella E, Baitty RL, Beatty PG, Chakraborty R, Christiansen CL et al. Assessment of optimal size and composition of the US National Registry of hematopoietic stem cell donors. Transplantation 2004; 78: 89–95.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Oudshoorn M, Falkenburg JH, Ebeling LJ, Haak HL, Wijermans PW, Fibbe WE et al. Unrelated bone marrow transplantation as a rescue procedure following inadvertent loss of an autologous bone marrow graft. Bone Marrow Transplant 1996; 18: 461–463.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. van Walraven SM, Heemskerk MBA, Lie JLWTj, Barge RMY, Cornelisse JJ et al. The importance of identifying a back-up donor for unrelated stem cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 2005; 35: 437–440.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Laughlin MJ, Eapen M, Rubinstein P, Waner JE, Zhang MJ, Champlin RE et al. Outcomes after transplantation of cord blood or bone marrow from unrelated donors in adults with leukemia. N Engl J Med 2004; 351: 2265–2275.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Rocha V, Labopin M, Sanz G, Arcese W, Schwerdtfeger R, Bosi A et al. Acute Leukemia Working Party of European Blood and Marrow Transplant Group; Eurocord-Netcord Registry. Transplants of umbilical-cord blood or bone marrow from unrelated donors in adults with acute leukemia. N Engl J Med 2004; 351: 2276–2285.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Brunstein CG, Baker KS, Wagner JE . Umbilical cord blood transplantation for myeloid malignancies. Curr Opin Hematol 2007; 14: 162–169.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. van Rood JJ, Loberiza Jr FR, Zhang MJ, Oudshoorn M, Claas FH, Cario MS et al. Effect of tolerance to noninherited maternal antigens on the occurrence of graft-versus host disease after bone marrow transplantation from a parent or an HLA-haploidentical sibling. Blood 2002; 99: 1572–1577.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Ichinohe T, Uchiyama T, Shimazaki C, Matsuo K, Tamaki S, Hino M et al. Feasibility of HLA-haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation between non-inherited maternal antigen (NIMA)-mismatched family members linked with long-term fetomaternal microchimerism. Blood 2004; 104: 3821–3828.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Ichinohe T, Teshima T, Matsuoka K, Saji H . Fetal-maternal microchimerism: impact on hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Curr Opin Immunol 2005; 17: 546–552 (review).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Schuler U, Rutt C, Baier D, Keller JV, Stahr A, Grathwohl A et al. Approaches to managing volunteer marrow donor registry HLA data. Algorithms for directing donor center-initiated HLA-DR typing of selected donors. Rev Immunogenet 2000; 2: 541–546.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This review should be considered as a tribute to Shirley Nolan, a most remarkable woman with a vision, who remains an example and a challenge to all of us. The authors would like to thank the staff of Europdonor, as well as Profs A Brand and FHJ Claas, P Rubinstein, Tatsuo Ichinohe and Susan Cleaver for their input and positive and critical assessment of this review.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

    J J van Rood & M Oudshoorn

  2. Europdonor Foundation, Leiden, The Netherlands

    J J van Rood & M Oudshoorn

Authors
  1. J J van Rood
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M Oudshoorn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J J van Rood.

Additional information

The present paper is an abbreviated and in part updated transcript of the Shirley Nolan Lecture the first author gave on 26 May 2006 during the biannual WMDA meeting in Cape Town, South Africa.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

van Rood, J., Oudshoorn, M. Eleven million donors in Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide! Time for reassessment?. Bone Marrow Transplant 41, 1–9 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1705866

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1705866

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links