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  • Letter to the Editor
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Donors as research subjects: a challenge

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 47, pages 605–606 (2012)Cite this article

We are glad to learn that the subject of ‘donors as research subjects’ attracts attention, as evidenced by commentaries on our recent article1 from Apperley,2 Appelbaum3 and Craddock.4

It is a challenge to set guidelines and recommendations for deciding when an unrelated stem cell donor becomes a research subject, as there are no absolute criteria and the question is subject to individual national regulations. Our article underlines that it is not often that an unrelated donor is a research subject, despite the fact that most patients are transplanted according to a research transplant protocol. The majority of these protocols include both research activities and standard of care, and most often the donor is only participating in the therapeutic activities. It is a rather rare exception when the donor participates in the research activities and becomes a research subject. We try to identify such instances and suggest how to proceed. We also urge donor registries to assist transplant centers to perform investigational transplants and to find ways to minimize time-consuming obstacles—either in accordance with the criteria mentioned in our article or because of the national regulations or local policy.

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References

  1. King RJ, Confer DL, Greinix HT, Halter J, Horowitz M, Schmidt AH et al. Unrelated hematopoietic stem cell donors as research subjects. Bone Marrow Transplant 2011; 46: 10–13.

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  2. Apperley JF . Regulation of donor participation in research studies: is there another way? Bone Marrow Transplant 2011; 46: 15–16.

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  3. Appelbaum FR . Unrelated hematopoietic stem cell donors as research subjects. Bone Marrow Transplant 2011; 46: 14.

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  4. Craddock C . Enshrining donor rights and optimizing patient outcome in unrelated donor transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 2011; 46: 17.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    R King

  2. DKMS German Bone Marrow Donor Center, Tübingen, Germany

    A H Schmidt

  3. Karaiskakio Foundation, Nicosia, Cyprus

    P Costeas

  4. Norwegian Bone Marrow Donor Registry, Institute of Immunology, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway

    T Egeland

Authors
  1. R King
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  2. A H Schmidt
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  3. P Costeas
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  4. T Egeland
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to T Egeland.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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King, R., Schmidt, A., Costeas, P. et al. Donors as research subjects: a challenge. Bone Marrow Transplant 47, 605–606 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2011.127

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2011.127

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