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- Title
The Stem Cell Club: a model for unrelated stem cell donor recruitment.
- Authors
Fingrut, Warren; Parmar, Simran; Cuperfain, Ari; Rikhraj, Kiran; Charman, Erin; Ptak, Emilie; Kahlon, Manjot; Graham, Alice; Luong, Susan; Wang, Yongjun (George); Yu, Janice; Arora, Neha; Suppiah, Roopa; Li, Edward W.; Lee, Anna; Welsh, Christopher; Benzaquen, Menachem; Thatcher, Alicia; Baharmand, Iman; Ladd, Aedan
- Abstract
<bold>Background: </bold>Patients with blood, immune, or metabolic diseases may require a stem cell transplant as part of their treatment. However, 70% of patients do not have a suitable human leukocyte antigen match in their family, and need an unrelated donor. Individuals can register as potential donors at stem cell drives, where they provide consent and a tissue sample for human leukocyte antigen typing. The ideal donors are young, male, and from a diversity of ethnic backgrounds. However, in Canada, non-Caucasian males ages 17 to 35 years represent only 8.8% of listed donors.<bold>Study Design and Methods: </bold>The Stem Cell Club is a non-profit organization founded in 2011 in Canada that aims to augment recruitment of the most needed donors. The initiative published a recruitment toolkit online (www.stemcellclub.ca). Currently, there are 12 chapters at universities across Canada.<bold>Results: </bold>To date, the Stem Cell Club has recruited 6585 potential registrants, representing 1.63% of donors on Canada's donor-database. Of the recruited registrants, 58.3% were male; 60.3% of males self-reported as non-Caucasian, and 78.5% were ages 17 to 25 years. From 2015 to 2016, the initiative recruited 13.7% of all ethnically diverse males ages 17 to 35 years listed in Canada's donor database. Data from this initiative demonstrate sustainability and performance on key indicators of stem cell drive quality.<bold>Conclusion: </bold>The Stem Cell Club has developed a capacity to recruit 2600 donors annually, with the majority being males with a high degree of ethnic diversity. The initiative enhances the quality of Canada's unrelated donor-database, improving the chances that patients in need of an unrelated donor will find a match for transplant. The Stem Cell Club is a model relevant to recruitment organizations around the world.
- Subjects
STEM cell donors; STEM cell transplantation; HLA histocompatibility antigens; TISSUE analysis; MEDICAL statistics; BLOOD donors; EMPLOYEE selection; ORGAN donors
- Publication
Transfusion, 2017, Vol 57, Issue 12, p2928
- ISSN
0041-1132
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1111/trf.14327