For patients with life-threatening cancers like Leukemia, Lymphoma, Sickle Cell and several other diseases, the only possible cure is a Marrow Transplant. Some patients are able to get the Transplant from a sibling, but most have to rely on an Unrelated Donor.
Matching is checked through tissue typing the Patient’s and Donor’s HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigens) and a perfect match of 10 out of 10 HLA Types is required for the best chance of the Transplant to succeed. Because tissue types are inherited, patients are most likely to match someone of their own race or ethnicity. There is a 95% likelihood that a South Asian will match another South Asian, and out of the 10 Million Donors in the database, South Asians are estimated to be less than 2%.