Extended Family Donor Search EFDS

For many blood cancer patients, a marrow transplant, also referred to as a stem cell transplant is not only a treatment option, it can also be a CURE. A lucky few have genetically matched siblings who can serve as donors, but the majority of patients (70%) rely on the kindness of strangers willing to step forward and donate.

A patient’s ethnic background is important in predicting the likelihood of finding a match. This is because human leukocyte antigen (“HLA”) markers used in matching are inherited. Some ethnic groups have more complex tissue types than others. So a person’s best chance of finding a donor may be with someone of the same ethnic background.

Within the more than 50 international stem cell donor registries, there are only 40 million individuals registered, or less than .01% of the world’s population. Due to the lopsided nature of the existing donor registry population, there are sobering statistics for ethnically diverse patients seeking a donor.

“Research has shown that patients have a greater likelihood of finding a donor in their own extended family,” says Jeff Haertling, founder of Marrow Mates. “Traditionally, reaching out to extended family meant reaching out only to known family members. Marrow Mates’ Extended Family Donor Search (EFDS) program takes a unique approach to donor searches for ethnically diverse patients by reaching out to all of their unknown genetic relatives as well.”

To do this, Marrow Mates enrolls searching patients in several commercially available genetic genealogy sites such as 23&Me, Ancestry.com and MyHeritage. When the DNA results come back, the patient now has a pool of previously unknown genetically linked relatives on which to focus donor recruitment efforts. This process provides a more patient-targeted approach than traditional donor recruitment efforts, which typically relies on in-person recruitment drives. These drives only reach people who are physically present at the event, and may not result in adding potential donors of the same ethnicity as the patient.

The Marrow Mates recruitment process addresses these challenges. Marrow Mates Director of EFDS Initiatives, Susan Haertling states, “the Marrow Mates approach is globally reaching, digitally executed and genetically precise. Our program yields a larger population of potential donors having a higher probability of being a genetic match to the searching patient.”