International Journal of Cell Cloning, Vol 4, 274-278, Copyright © 1986 by AlphaMed Press
HLA compatibility for patients with thalassemia: implications for bone marrow transplantation
C Delfini, M Donati, D Marchionni, S Nesci, O Paradisi, M Valentini, G Nicolini and G Lucarelli
In order to evaluate the possibility of a patient with thalassemia finding
an HLA-identical sibling donor, we performed an analysis of HLA antigens in
families of thalassemic patients. The pattern distribution was not
significantly different from the expected ratio 25:50:25. When the siblings
were subdivided according to the age of the patients (under or over 5
years), the above pattern remained unmodified for both the age groups. The
average size of the 129 thalassemic families was 2.4. Thus, taking into
account that thalassemic patients have an average of 1.4 siblings and that
the HLA genotype distribution is expected as such, HLA-matched siblings are
available for 33% of the patients. Because an additional 8.5% of the
patients were found HLA- phenotypically identical to one parent, the chance
for a patient with thalassemia to find a suitable donor for bone marrow
transplantation would be increased to 41.5%. Our preliminary data cannot be
extrapolated to the overall Italian thalassemic population; however, it can
be inferred that for a patient with thalassemia, the chance of finding a
suitable donor for bone marrow transplantation is not reduced.
