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Data from University of Sydney advance knowledge in cord blood
December 10th, 2007
2007 DEC 10 -- According to a study from Camperdown, Australia, "Over the past decade umbilical cord blood (UCB) has been increasingly used as a source of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) for patients who require a HSC transplant but do not have an HLA-matched donor. It was anticipated that using UCB as an alternative source of HSCs would increase the chance of finding a donor, particularly for the otherwise underrepresented ethnic minority groups." "To evaluate the effectiveness of the Australian public UCB banks to increase the ethnic diversity of available HSC donations, this paper analyses the ethnic diversity of the Sydney Cord Blood Bank (SCBB), comparing this diversity to that of the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (ABMDR). It also examines the ethnic diversity of those patients who, after requesting a haematopoietic stem cell transplantation in the 2-year period between 2003 and 2005, managed to find a suitably matched bone marrow or UCB donor. We show that the ethnic mix of donors to the SCBB has remained generally broad in source, is comparative to the Australian population, and is more diverse than the ABMDR," wrote G.N. Samuel and colleagues, University of Sydney. The researchers concluded: "This, however, may still not be sufficient to substantially increase the likelihood of finding a donor for some ethnic minority groups." Samuel and colleagues published their study in Bone Marrow Transplantation (Data from University of Sydney advance knowledge in cord blood. Bone Marrow Transplantation, 2007;40(8):729-734). For more information, contact G.N. Samuel, University of Sydney, Center Values Ethics & Law Medical, Level 1, Medical Foundation Bldg K25, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia. Publisher contact information for the journal Bone Marrow Transplantation is: Nature Publishing Group, Macmillan Building, 4 Crinan St., London N1 9XW, England. Keywords: Australia, Camperdown, Bioethics, Biotechnology, Blood Banking, Blood Transfusion, Bone Marrow Transplantation, Cell Transplantation, Cord Blood, Medical Device, Stem Cell Research, Surgery, Transfusion Medicine, University of Sydney. This article was prepared by Biotech Business Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2007, Biotech Business Week via NewsRx.com.
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