Stem cell transplant can save life of a blood cancer patient: Become a donor and save lives

Stem cell transplant may sometimes be the only chance of survival for blood cancer patients, many of whom are children. You can be a donor too. Read on to know the process.

Patients and donors of Indian origin have unique HLA characteristics that are severely under-represented in the global database, which makes the probability of finding a suitable donor even more difficult.

India, a fast-growing economy is reeling under the burden of life-threatening diseases such as blood cancer and blood disorders such as Thalassemia and Aplastic Anemia. India ranks third highest in reported cases of hematological cancers in the world and it remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related death among children as well. As per the GLOBOCAN 2020, a report prepared by World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer, every year over 70 thousand people die of blood cancer and over 1 lakh people are diagnosed with a form of blood cancer like Leukemia, Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma, Hodgkin Lymphoma in India. With this increasing blood cancer burden in the country, the need of the hour is to support blood cancer patients in their fight against such life-threatening disease. Stem cell transplant can save the life of a blood cancer patient.

Importance of stem cell transplant in blood cancer treatment

Blood cancer refers to defects in the blood-forming (hematopoietic) system leading to the formation of immature or dysfunctional blood cells. They enter the bloodstream and multiply uncontrollably, crowding out the healthy cells. Many patients are children and young people whose only chance of recovery is a stem cell transplant for which they need healthy blood stem cells donated from a matching donor. For a blood stem cell transplant to succeed, it is important that the HLA of the donor and patient are as close to identical as possible in order to avoid rejection reactions between graft and patient. Tissue types are passed from parents to children. Only about 30 per cent of the patients in need of a stem cell transplant as life-saving treatment, are able to find a sibling match. The rest 70 per cent depend on finding a matching unrelated donor.

HLA is the abbreviation of 'human leucocyte antigen' which is commonly known as 'tissue types'. HLA determines structures on the surfaces of white blood cells which allow the immune system to distinguish between its own and foreign tissue.

Finding the perfect match for stem cell transplant

Ethnicity plays a key role in finding the perfect match. Patients and donors of Indian origin have unique HLA characteristics that are severely under-represented in the global database, which makes the probability of finding a suitable donor even more difficult. Due to this under-representation, it is extremely difficult for Indian patients to find a matching unrelated donor. This situation can only be changed by recruiting many potential stem cell donors from India.

Take the case of Kriti, a 22-year-old girl who was diagnosed with blood cancer when she was 12-year-old and is on medication for the last 10 years. She has been struggling to survive each day but has now reached a point where a stem cell transplant is her only chance at survival. Her stem cell transplant will only be possible if she finds a matching blood stem cell donor.

You can be a donor too: The entire process explained

You can come forward to donate stem cells too. Here is the entire process of donation right from registration onwards.

• The first step to register as a potential blood stem cell donor is by giving a simple cheek swab sample and filling a consent form with a stem cell registry. Once your swabs are received, it is sent for HLA typing
• The swabs are analyzed to determine the Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA) tissue characteristics. HLA typing is used to match patients and donors for blood stem cell transplants. Once the HLA typing is done, you can be searched as a potential match for any patient in need around the world
• You could come up as a potential match within weeks of registering, or perhaps it might take years. There is a chance that you may never be called, but there is also the chance that, if you do get called, you are the ONLY one who can save that patient's life
• When a blood cancer patient is looking for a matching donor, a search is carried out to find an unrelated donor. The national registry is searched first, but the search regularly goes global, checking all international registries to find the best possible matched donor
• When you come up as a match for a patient, you will go through the Confirmatory Typing (CT) processing where your tissue characteristics are analyzed again using a blood sample. You will be guided through each step and a full body checkup is required to ensure your health status
• You will further have a medical assessment and consultation at a specialist collection center (where you will later donate your blood stem cells)

(This article is authored by Patrick Paul, CEO, DKMS BMST Foundation India)