Mixed-race Patients Struggle to Discover Marrow Donors
But because the 28-year-old bodybuilder is one-quarter Japanese, his doctor warned him the outlook was grim. Glasgows background would make it almost impossible to find a match, which usually comes from a patients own ethnic group.
The doctor “didnt say it was slim-to-none. He didnt say it would be hard. He said zero chance,” Glasgows mother, Carole Wiegand, recalled with tears in her eyes. “When Nick heard that, it sent him plummeting.”
At a time when the number of multiracial Americans is rising, only a tiny fraction of donors on the national bone-marrow registry are of mixed race. The National Marrow Donor Program is trying to change that by seeking more diverse donors for patients suffering from leukemia, lymphoma and other blood diseases.
“The truth is, when people of different backgrounds marry and produce offspring, it creates more types that are harder to match,” said Michelle Setterholm, the programs director of scientific services. “The probability just gets lower when you have people of mixed ancestral DNA.”
The number of people who identify themselves as multiracial in the United States has grown from 3.9 million in 2000, the first year the census included the category, to 5.2 million in 2008. Mixed-race people account for 1.6 percent of the U.S. population.
The donor program has been pushing for years to recruit more racial minorities and mixed-race donors. So far, multiracial volunteers make up just 3 percent of the 7 million people on the registry.
That is higher than the percentage of mixed-race people in the U.S. But there are so many possible racial and ethnic combinations that finding a match can still be extremely difficult.
The reason that mixed-heritage patients are so hard to match can be found in the immune system.
Populations in different parts of the world developed certain proteins, or markers, that are part of the bodys natural defenses. These markers help the immune system determine which cells are foreign and should be rejected.
A match between two people who share many markers will reduce the risk of the donor and recipient cells attacking each other. Because certain markers tend to cluster in particular ethnic groups, matches are most often found among people of shared backgrounds. Multiracial patients often have uncommon profiles and a much harder time finding a donor.
About 6,000 patients in the U.S. are awaiting a bone marrow match.
Finding compatible organs for transplant is simpler. Organ matches rely essentially on blood type, which is not related to race.
From his Japanese grandmother, Glasgow got the almond shape of his eyes and cell markers that set him apart from most other whites. From his white grandparents, he got markers that set him apart from other Japanese.
Geary Moyas background – part Navajo, part Mexican – has kept his life on hold since 2005, when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Chemotherapy has put his cancer in remission, but a bone marrow transplant is his only hope for a cure.
“I cant work. I cant plan. I just dont know what tomorrow will hold for me,” said Moya, a 51-year-old former manager of an appliance company.
He often visits bone marrow drives, where he tries to encourage prospective donors to sign up.
“If its not for me, itll help someone,” he said last week as he stopped by a booth registering potential bone marrow donors at California State University in Hayward. “Theres a whole list of people out there waiting for someone to come along.”