Comparison of the effectiveness of potential marrow donors recruited from apheresis donors or whole blood donors and through appeals to the general public

Marrow transplants with phenotypically HLA-matched, unrelated donors have been used effectively to treat a number of diseases. Many blood centers have recruited HLA-typed apheresis blood donors into marrow donor registries. However, to build larger registries so that more patients may be treated with unrelated donor marrow transplants, whole blood donors and people who do not donate blood have been added to the registries. The marrow donor program at our blood center had 2844 potential donors, of whom 1725 were also apheresis donors, 608 were whole blood donors, and 511 were recruited from the general public as a result of community appeals for marrow donors for a specific patient. Over a 9-month period, 297 potential donors were asked to donate blood samples for HLA-DR typing or mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC) testing or to participate in an informational session, undergo a medical evaluation, and sign a statement indicating an intention to donate marrow for a specific patient. Overall, these requests were successfully completed by 75.5 percent of apheresis donors, 87.2 percent of whole blood donors, and 78.1 percent of the potential donors recruited through community appeals. Furthermore, there was no difference among the three groups in the portion of people who donated blood samples for HLA-DR typing or MLC testing. Fifteen of 18 apheresis donors who were found to match a specific donor signed a statement of intent to donate marrow, 2 apheresis donors were deferred for medical reasons, and 1 decided not to donate.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)