Anthony Nolan Experience: Issues and Strategy for Cord Blood Banking from Ethnic Minority Groups

Abstract

Anthony Nolan is renowned as the charity founding the world’s first donor registry. Since its inception, it has increased the donor registry in Britain, working closely with the country’s National Health Service Blood Transfusion (NHSBT) service, developed new technologies from its human leukocyte antigen (HLA) tissue typing research, and expanded its field of practice into cord blood banking.

The expansion into cord blood banking by Anthony Nolan was done, primarily, to fulfill its vision that everyone that needs a stem cell transplant will get one. The ethnic minority groups were and are still, not well represented on the donor registry in the UK [Department of Health, Report 1:3–19, 2013], and thus meeting these needs necessitated the development of the cord blood bank. This finding is mirrored internationally [CMAJ/News, CMAJ 183:537, 2011; Samuel, Kerridge, Vowels, Trickett, Chapman, Dobbins, Bone Marrow Transplant 40:729–34, 2007; Switzer, Bruce, Myaskovsky, DiMartini, Shellmer et al., Blood 121:1469–79, 2013]. Due to the immaturity of the umbilical cord stem cells, a wider margin of mismatch can be allowed and this enables more transplants for those with more difficult to match tissue types.

Collection sites within Anthony Nolan cord blood program are selected based on the birth rate and ethnic diversity within the catchment area of the hospital. It is anticipated that the ethnic diversity will be of a 70 % (Caucasian): 30 % (ethnic minority) mix. Currently, Black and Minority ethnic groups will have a 30 % chance of finding a stem cell match [Anthony, Report 2013 1:1–6, 2013]. This chapter will discuss the specific nuances and challenges experienced by collection sites in meeting this requirement.