Donor Search for Allogeneic Transplant

Our Donor Services Program manages donor search, identification, and donation process of both related donors and unrelated donors for allogeneic stem cell transplant patients.​

The Donor Search Process

Related Donor Search

Specific family members may be asked to contact the Donor Services Program to complete a brief medical history to determine if they are an appropriate candidate for Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) Typing. HLA typing is a simple test that checks if a family member is a match. This initial test may use either a swab kit to collect a sample of cells from inside your family member’s cheek OR a blood kit. Dana-Farber will provide the appropriate kit and instructions for this collection.

• Your HLA type is inherited from your parents: one haplotype from your mother and one haplotype from your father.
• The best chance of finding an HLA match is a full biological sibling. The likelihood of a match with a full biological sibling about 25%.
• Offspring and parents are haploidentical (half match) and can sometimes be used as donors.
• If one of your family members is an appropriate HLA match for you, further testing will be done at Dana-Farber, including a physical exam.
• Our Donor Services team will provide support and resources to your family donor.

Unrelated Donor Search

If none of your family members are a match, a search coordinator will search all available unrelated donor registries (domestic and international) to find someone who best matches your HLA type (a.k.a., unrelated donor match). The two phases of the unrelated donor search process are:
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1. Preliminary search: During the preliminary search, we submit your HLA type and other demographic information to find a potential match through a computerized search. 

• A preliminary search is a “snapshot” of the possible donor matches for you.
• Further testing is required to confirm that a potential donor is a suitable match for you.
• There is no cost to you for a preliminary search.

2. Formal search: We begin a formal search once we receive insurance approval for the search costs, a deposit from you, or receive an NMDP application for donor search financial assistance, we initiate a formal search. 

• Potential donors are contacted by the donor center to obtain a blood sample for high-resolution HLA testing.
• This process, known as confirmatory typing can take from two weeks to several months to complete.
• The average time, nationally, to locate an appropriate donor is eight weeks.
• The time varies greatly depending on how common or unusual your HLA typing is, and how well your ethnic group is represented in donor registries.

If there isn’t an adult HLA match for you in the registries, your transplant doctor may explore whether you may be eligible to receive a cord blood transplant. If your doctor decides you are eligible for a cord blood transplant, the same process of confirmatory typing will be performed.

NMDP Donor Recruitment Efforts 

In addition to managing the donor search process, we also recruit potential donors throughout New England to the NMDP Registry. Our donor recruitment efforts focus on increasing the diversity of tissue types available and registering donors who are committed to helping any patient in need. We work with families, communities, businesses and other groups to raise awareness and recruit committed individuals to join the donor registry and host a donor registration drive.