High antibodies create disparities in donor search for blood and bone marrow transplants

High antibodies create disparities in donor search for blood and bone marrow transplants

People who have elevated levels of donor-specific anti-HLA antibodies (DSAs)—immune system proteins that can target and attack donor stem cells—wait an average of three additional months to receive blood or bone marrow transplants from a healthy donor, according to recent research from investigators at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. Those most likely to be affected are Black women who have had prior pregnancies, researchers found, in wo…