Transplantation Related Donors: Experience of 1355 Chinese Patients

Background and AimsCurrently in China, many young patients are “only children” due to the one-child policy that has been in place for nearly 30 years; therefore, other related donors become more important due to having no siblings. We evaluated the experience of 1355 Chinese patients searching for three types of transplantation-related donors (siblings, parents or children, extended related donors), which were defined as Type I, II and III donors, respectively) retrospectively in a single center.MethodsIn this study, 2220 HLA haplotypes were defined by segregation in 555 families and the three different related donor types of 1355 patients were analyzed separately.ResultsA30-B13-DR7, A2-B46-DR9, A33-B58-DR17, A2-B13-DR12, A11-B75-DR12, A1-B37-DR10, A33-B44-DR13, A2-B46-DR8, A33-B58-DR13 were the most common haplotypes in China. In Type II donors, the probability of HLA-matched was 2.13%, and that of one HLA-A, -B or -DR locus mismatched was 4.84%, respectively. Interestingly, of eight HLA-matched Type II donors, each parent had the same HLA haplotype including A30-B13-DR7, A33-B58-DR17, A11-B75-DR12, A33-B58-DR13, A29-B7-DR7. Therein, four were A30-B13-DR7.ConclusionsIf the patient who has the most common haplotype in China (A30-B13-DR7) is an only child or not an HLA-matched Type I donor, searching for Type II donors is a meaningful strategy. If the patient has one very common haplotype (A30-B13-DR7) and one relatively uncommon haplotype, searching for Type III donors is still a reasonable strategy.