A charity outfit is hoping to double the number of lives saved by encouraging its donors to spit.
Currently blood samples are used to determine bone marrow type for potential matches, which means a trip to the doctors. But from July 1, this year, the leukaemia charity, Anthony Nolan Trust, is launching a new way for people to join its register.
They will ask for a saliva sample, which can be given from the comfort of your own home.
The UK charity is the first in the world to use this system for its donor register.
Postal kit
The saliva kits can be simply posted out to someone who wants to join the register, and they just need to complete a medical questionnaire, spit into the tube and send it back.
Their data will then be stored pending further tests if a match is found.
Saliva facts
The saliva test will be able to help find out tissue type. A saliva sample of just 0.5ml is needed. The DNA from saliva samples is said to be just as good as from blood.
The saliva sample kits include a solution which preserves the sample at room temperature for up to three months
All new donors are asked to complete a medical questionnaire before sending in their sample.
The charity hopes the new collection method will appeal to a younger, busier audience.
Henny Braund, chief executive of Anthony Nolan, said: “Ultimately, this is about saving more lives. Anthony Nolan provides two potentially lifesaving transplants every day, but there is an equal number that we can’t currently help.”
“We urgently need to increase the number of people on our register, and saliva testing will help us do that much more quickly and effectively.”
The Trust’s research team has shown that saliva is just as good for tissue typing as blood. A spit sample provides long and intact strands of DNA, which can be analysed to find the best possible match between donor and patient.
If a match is found the donation of bone marrow involves the removal of stem cells from the hip bone. This is done using a needle and syringe under a general anaesthetic in a hospital.
The new saliva kits have been piloted over the last seven months and over 5,000 people have joined the register – now it is being rolled out across England and Scotland.
How bone marrow saved a life
Eleven years ago, Shaw, from West Lothian, and his wife joined the Anthony Nolan bone marrow register following the death of her mother.
Within months the register had found a leukaemia patient to receive Shaw’s bone marrow, but at that stage he was not told who it was.
“I didn’t know anything about where it was going or who needed it. It didn’t matter,” the 45-year-old said.
But he admitted he remained curious about who had benefited and received three-monthly updates about how the transplant had gone. A year after the donation, he was told the recipient had been two-year-old Rachel Rack.
“When I found out that Rachel was only two at the time, that meant a sharp intake ofbreath as I had a daughter the very same age.
“We started corresponding in late 1997 and I decided to go over and visit for Thanksgiving. The Rack family were very welcoming and they showed me about Virginia and then I took over my whole family.
“I have been over every year since, but this year they came to visit Scotland for the first time.”
Rachel’s mother, Mary, said her daughter had been very ill with leukaemia when she received the cells, but that Shaw had been a perfect match.
“We were very hopeful. We knew though that there were many stepping stones we would have to cross,” Mary said.
“She had lots of friends she had made over the years, while having chemo, who did not make it, so we were very fearful. “We knew we had to take every day at a time and she was so little and she had so much to go through.”
Rachel was in hospital for about a month. First she went for daily checks. Now these are annual. Mary urged others to join the bone marrow register.
“We feel a gratitude to Shaw that you really can’t put into words. We don’t know how to repay him, but we are like family now. We have made a wonderful friend.
“It is just so very important to sign up you just don’t know whose life you could save.”
There are currently 7,000 people globally who need a bone marrow transplant, but the chances of finding a match are slim because the genetic make-up is so varied.
The Anthony Nolan Trust is urging more people aged between 18 and 40 to register as donors.
Experts say they particularly need male donors aged between 18 and 25 as they can generally provide a greater volume of blood stem cells, which aid recovery.
Pauline Makoni, of the trust, said men of this age currently make up just 10% of the register. “We always need more donors for the register.
“When they turn 60 we remove them from the register or they might be excluded for medical reasons or personal reasons, so we never reach a point where we can say we have enough donors for the time being,” she said.
“Probably the main inconvenience to the donor is the time factor. It is not a one-day procedure.”
Dr Paul Travis, of the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine said: “It is a relatively simple procedure. It is not a really big operation.
“But we need many people on the register to ensure we get as many matches and tissue types as possible.
“If the tissue types are not matched the body will think of them as being something which needs to be eliminated.
“You really do need the greatest possible donors out there to get a match.”