title: Cord blood collection and banking from a population with highly diverse geographic origins increase HLA diversity in the registry and do not lower the proportion of validated cord blood units: experience of the Marseille Cord Blood Bank.
abstract: Several Cord Blood (CB) Bank studies suggested that ethnicity impaired CB unit (CBU) qualification. The Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide registries present an over-representation of unrelated donors (UD) from Northwestern European descent. This raises the question of equality of access to hematopoietic stem cells transplant, especially in the Mediterranean zone, which has taken in many waves of immigration. The aim of our study is to address whether, in the Marseille CB Bank, CBU qualification rate is impaired by geographic origin. The study compared biological characteristics of 106 CBU disqualified for total nucleated cell (TNC) count (dCBU) and 136 qualified CBU in relation to registry enrichment and haplotype origin. A high proportion (>80%) of both dCBU and CBU had at least one non-European haplotype and enrich CB and UD registries to a higher extent than those with two European haplotypes (P<0.001). No difference was observed between TNC count and volume according to geographic origin. Our study shows that diverse Mediterranean origins do not have an impact on the CBU qualification rate. Partnership with Mediterranean birth clinics with highly trained staff is a reasonable option to increase the HLA diversity of CB Bank inventories and to improve the representation of minorities.
authors.affiliation: UMR 7268 ADES, Aix-Marseille Université - EFS - CNRS, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bordoni
authors.affiliation: Cell Therapy Facility & Inserm CBT-1409, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Magalon
authors.affiliation: Birth Clinic, Hopital de la Conception, AP-HM, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gilbertas
authors.affiliation: Birth Clinic, Hopital de la Conception, AP-HM, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gamerre
authors.affiliation: UMR 7268 ADES, Aix-Marseille Université - EFS - CNRS, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Le Coz
authors.affiliation: Cell Therapy Facility & Inserm CBT-1409, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berthomieu
authors.affiliation: Cell Therapy Facility & Inserm CBT-1409, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.identifier: 0000000237554889
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chabannon
authors.affiliation: UMR 7268 ADES, Aix-Marseille Université - EFS - CNRS, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Di Cristofaro
authors.affiliation: 1] UMR 7268 ADES, Aix-Marseille Université - EFS - CNRS, Marseille, France [2] Immuno-genetics Laboratory, Etablissement Français du Sang Alpes Méditerranée, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Picard
mesh_terms: D001771:Blood Banks; D001793:Blood Preservation; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood; D005602:France; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012042:Registries
chemical_list: D006680:HLA Antigens