A/Prof Koh Liang Piu, member of the N2CR Tissue-Specific Carcinogenesis theme, helped to develop a cell selection technique that gives blood cancer patients a higher chance of finding a match for blood stem cell transplants, even from donors who were previously deemed to not be suitable.
Since named the Haplo-2017 protocol, this technique widens the pool of available donors and reduces transplant-related complications. Usually, blood stem cell transplantation requires a donor to have human leukocyte antigen (HLA) markers that fully match the patient’s, so as to decrease the risk of rejection and other complications.
With the Haplo-2017 protocol, patients may receive stem cell transplants from donors whose HLA markers are not perfectly matched with theirs. This is especially vital for people from ethnic minority groups who conventionally have a lower chance of finding a match globally due to their small population.
