What are the advantages of donating bone marrow to donors?

What ability does small hematopoietic stem cells have to give patients hope of rebirth? According to professionals, the central part of most human bones has a bone cavity, and the substance contained in the bone cavity is bone marrow. Bone contains a hematopoietic stem cell, which has strong differentiation, development and regeneration ability and is responsible for hematopoiesis in human body. Red blood cells, platelets, lymphocytes and granulocytes in human blood are all derived from hematopoietic stem cells after many times of differentiation and development. Normal hematopoietic stem cells can be injected into patients with hematological diseases by intravenous infusion to rebuild their hematopoietic and immune functions and achieve the purpose of treating some diseases. This process is hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, also called "bone marrow transplantation". Because of the important role of hematopoietic stem cells, many medical experts call them "seeds of life".

With the deepening of scientific research, "seeds of life" are playing an increasingly important role, and more and more diseases need to be treated by hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. It is reported that hematopoietic stem cell transplantation can be used to treat tumor diseases, such as leukemia and some malignant solid tumors. And non-neoplastic diseases such as aplastic anemia, severe immunodeficiency, acute radiation sickness and thalassemia. In recent years, with the deepening of the research on hematopoietic stem cells in the medical field, scientists have found that hematopoietic stem cells can be transformed into cardiomyocytes, hepatocytes and nerve cells after induced differentiation ... In this way, some patients suffering from myocardial infarction or cirrhosis and paralysis have hope of recovery.

Difference in quantity:

4 million patients and 300,000 donors

Hematopoietic stem cells are so important to rekindle the fire of life. However, there is a huge gap between supply and demand in China.

Zhou, vice president of the Red Cross, said with a heavy heart, "Relevant statistics show that there are more than 4 million leukemia patients in China, and the incidence of leukemia is three in 100,000, and it is still increasing by more than 40,000 people every year, most of whom are teenagers and children. As of last year, China Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donor Database (commonly known as "China Bone Marrow Bank") only registered data of more than 300,000 donors. 4 million to 300,000, the difference between the two is too big. "

It is understood that hematopoietic stem cell transplantation needs HLA matching of donors and recipients. HLA, namely human leukocyte antigen, exists on the surface of various nucleated cells in human body. It is the biological "identity card" of human body, which can identify "ego" and "non-ego" through immune response and exclude "non-ego", thus maintaining the integrity of individuals. Therefore, HLA plays an important role in the success or failure of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

If a person suffers from leukemia, the first thing people think of is to extract hematopoietic stem cells from their brothers and sisters, parents and cousins and transplant them. However, the HLA coincidence rate of such relatives is not high, except identical twins, which is 100%. Even biological siblings or fraternal twins born to the same parents have only 1/4.

In unrelated allogeneic transplantation, the coincidence rate of hematopoietic stem cells is only one in four hundred to one in ten thousand. Therefore, in order to bring the hope of survival to so many leukemia patients, there must be a large number of donors and a huge and well-matched hematopoietic stem cell database. However, in the face of more than 4 million leukemia patients from 300,000 hematopoietic stem cell donors, this undoubtedly means that most of them can only resign themselves to fate.

As a hematologist, what saddens Pu Zhao most is to watch those young lives that could have been cured, because hematopoietic stem cells that can't match HLA can't be found and leave this colorful world prematurely. "In recent years, there are an average of 40 to 50 cases of leukemia in our city every year, and there is a slight upward trend. There were 60 cases last year, and most of the patients were people under 35. Leukemia has become the most common malignant tumor that harms young children. " Pu Zhao said sadly, "If you can't find a matching hematopoietic stem cell, many beautiful lives will die quietly every year." It is understood that "finding suitable hematopoietic stem cells" has long been a "bottleneck" that plagues the treatment of blood diseases.

Misunderstanding:

Donating hematopoietic stem cells is equal to "drilling bone marrow"?

The reason why the gap of bone marrow bank in China is so big, experts believe that there are still many misunderstandings about donating bone marrow. According to the survey, when it comes to bone marrow transplantation, people often look pale, and many citizens take it for granted that it is "drilling bone marrow", which is painful and harmful to health.

"In fact, it's not like this at all," Zhu, director of Zhejiang Branch of China Hematopoietic Stem Cell Database, said at the event. "Donating hematopoietic stem cells is similar to donating blood, with only slight pain and no harm to health." She said that the sources of hematopoietic stem cells can be divided into bone marrow transplantation, peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, cord blood hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and fetal liver hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. But in fact, "drilling bone marrow" is not as exaggerated as rumors. Traditionally, the so-called "bone drilling and marrow extraction" is to take out a few pinholes in the pelvis through local anesthesia. In recent 10 years, with the development of science and technology, "bone drilling and marrow extraction" has been gradually replaced by peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. That is to say, the donor is given hematopoietic stem cell mobilizer drugs to accelerate the generation of bone marrow hematopoietic stem cells and release them into peripheral blood, and then the hematopoietic stem cells in the blood are collected from the arm vein, and the hematopoietic stem cells in the blood are centrifugally enriched by the blood cell separator, and the rest of the blood is returned to the body. Zhu said: "The drug mobilizer has no side effects on human health, and the hematopoietic stem cells donated by donors only account for 0.3% to 0.5% of the total number of human hematopoietic stem cells. After collection, hematopoietic stem cells will proliferate rapidly and return to the original level within 1 ~ 2 weeks. Therefore, donating hematopoietic stem cells will not affect health. "

The collection and donation of hematopoietic stem cells are voluntary. High-resolution detection of blood samples and their storage in bone marrow bank need 500 yuan money from the state. Moreover, once the patient finds hematopoietic stem cells with the same matching from the bone marrow bank, the doctor will give him a large dose of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, so that the patient will lose his original hematopoietic ability to welcome the arrival of new "seeds of life". At this time, if the donor suddenly repents, the patient will not only lose hope of survival, but also accelerate their death. Therefore, donors should think carefully when registering as volunteers and signing the "consent form", because a life is in your hands.

Surging love:

The first person who registered for sampling was Chen Qingsheng of Cangnan. After he learned the news of the activity from the newspaper, he arrived in Ryan by car from Cangnan early this morning. He said: "I know the pain of leukemia patients. A few years ago, a relative died of leukemia. I will be lucky if my blood sample matches the leukemia patient successfully. At that time, I will definitely donate hematopoietic stem cells. After all, my little cell can save a life. "

The reporter noticed that in the crowd, Yin Xuegui, the president of the experimental high school run by the citizens whose wife suffered from leukemia, and Chen Bushuang, the brother of leukemia patient Chen Xiaomei, also boarded the blood collection vehicle for sampling, silently offering a love for leukemia patients.

Among these amiable and respectable volunteers, there are many Ryan citizens and many migrant workers. Huang Caigao and Gao Shuangshuang from the urban area came to register for sampling, becoming the first volunteer couple to donate hematopoietic stem cells in our city. After the sampling was completed, Anhui young Shuaihuan also voluntarily donated 200 yuan money to donate hematopoietic stem cells. What is particularly touching is Su Hua, a villager in Hengtangtou Village, Wangshang, a simple farmer who has donated blood six times. A few days ago, his right foot was accidentally stabbed by a steel bar, and he is still wearing a bandage, but he took a sample with a cane. These volunteers have nothing to do with leukemia, but they all showed their love for leukemia patients and the cause of China Red Cross.