Home > News & Events > Feature Articles > NMDP Research Program - Working to Improve Transplant Outcomes (12/03/2002)

NMDP Research Program

Working to Improve Transplant Outcomes

NMDP Research Program The National Marrow Donor Program^® (NMDP) Research Program develops and promotes research aimed at increasing opportunities for and improving outcomes of unrelated donor stem cell transplants. The NMDP facilitates more than 150 transplants each month through its network of donor centers and transplant centers. With the permission of donors and recipients, it is able to gather valuable data and blood samples for research. The NMDP collects research information (medical, demographic and quality of life information) from patients who receive transplants at NMDP transplant centers. The NMDP also collects blood samples from transplant recipients and their donors. Researchers use the blood samples and research information to learn more about what factors lead to successful transplants.

Comparing Marrow and PBSC Transplant Outcomes

One example of NMDP research is a recently completed analysis of the clinical outcomes of marrow and peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplants. The study found that overall the outcomes in patients who received marrow and those who received PBSC were similar. This finding has prompted the NMDP Research Program to plan more detailed studies to determine whether some patients could benefit more from the use of marrow and others from PBSC. Some of the factors that will be analyzed include patient age, diagnosis and stage of disease at time of transplant. What is learned may help physicians to determine what type of transplant is best for a patient.

Analyzing HLA Matching Factors

Another study now in progress examines the impact of HLA matching on transplant outcomes. Researchers are studying donor and recipient paired blood samples along with transplant outcome data. By analyzing the paired samples along with transplant outcomes, researchers can learn which factors are most significant to achieving successful outcomes when matching recipients and donors. The results of this study will help physicians to select the best matched donor for their patients.

Giving Hope to Future Patients

NMDP research studies contribute to a better understanding of blood stem cell transplants so that more patients can be treated successfully in the future. When Jim Baxter's son Stewart was diagnosed at age four with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 1992, Stewart's parents agreed to allow him to be included in NMDP research. "I saw participation as a compound benefit," Baxter said, "because my son might survive a deadly disease and at the same time, doctors would learn about it and maybe bring that survival rate up. If you bring up the survival rate even two percent, that means something to other families."

Providing Resources for Researchers

In addition to conducting its own research studies, the NMDP has valuable resources available to any researcher upon approval of a submitted data request or study proposal. NMDP resources available to researchers include:

The largest database of HLA-typed individuals (more than 4.7 million volunteer donors) in the world.
Outcome, histocompatibility, donor search and donation side effects data on over 90% of the more than 15,000 unrelated donor stem cell transplants the NMDP has coordinated since 1987.
The largest repository of unrelated stem cell donor and recipient paired cell and serum samples in the world (more than 7,600 paired samples).

The NMDP also promotes stem cell transplantation research through research grant programs. The NMDP Research Web site, www.nmdpresearch.org, provides detailed information including announcements of research grant opportunities and recently published studies, guidelines for submitting data requests and study proposals, NMDP research policy and priorities, and HLA typing resources.