Life De India

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Life De India A pilot project to enroll
voluntary unrelated stem cell donors Theodore
Kamaladoss Programme Officer Community Services
Dept. Bangalore Medical Services Trust Bangalore
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• Bone Marrow Transplant
• (BMT)
• or
• Stem Cell Transplant
• Background Information

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BMT- The need

• Tens of thousands of patients all over the world
  have life-threatening disorders such as Blood
  cancers (leukemia), immune system disorders and
  thalassemia.
• Chemotherapy, Radiation therapy, blood
  transfusions etc. are only temporary treatment
  measures
• For a total cure they need Blood Stem Cell (Bone
  Marrow) Transplant.

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What are Stem Cells?
Stem Cells are primitive cells found in our body,
which can develop into any kind of cells or
tissues. Blood Stem Cells are cells found in the
bone marrow which produce platelets, white red
blood cells.

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Blood Stem Cell (Bone Marrow) Transplants
About 30 of such patients are lucky enough to
have a sister or a brother with a matched tissue
type who can donate their stem cells. The rest
have to depend on unrelated, voluntary, Blood
Stem Cell donors from a Stem Cell Registry.
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What is a "Stem Cell Registry?
It is a large databank of people who register as
voluntary Blood Stem Cell Donors. Most
countries have such Registries with a shared
database of millions of donors, to help patients
find a tissue-matched donor. India still does
not have a registry! So we are trying to
establish the Stem Cell Registry-India (SCR-I)

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SCR-I-Objectives

• To identify blood banks with a strong volunteer
  repeat-donor base capable of recruiting unrelated
  donors
• To recruit 2 Lakh Voluntary, unrelated Stem Cell
  donors, in 5 yrs time, with expansion thereafter
• To collaborate with other ongoing efforts
  registries for searches

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• Why is such a large Stem Cell (Donor) Registry
  required?
• It is not easy to get a donor with an exact
  tissue match.
• The larger the registry, the greater the
  possibility
• of finding an exact match
• The possibility of finding an exact match
  increases if the donor patient are from the
  same ethnic group.
• Thus our patients have a better chance to find a
  match from among a registry of Indian donors.

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SCRI a Network of-

• Armed Forces
• blood centres battalions of the Armed Forces
• Voluntary blood Centres Associations of
  voluntary blood donors
• Rotary Blood Centres in India
• AVBD, Tamil Nadu
• Public Cord Blood Banks

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We have applied for awaiting Government
funding Meanwhile, Rotary Bangalore-TTK Blood
Bankinitiated a pilot project to enroll SCR-I
donorsLife De IndiaJune 2008 to August 2009
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Rotary-TTK Blood Bank Background info- Our
services

• Blood Bank (24x7)
• Day care Transfusion
• Satellite Blood Storage Centres
• HLA laboratory
• Molecular Biology Laboratory Community Services
  Department
• HIV/AIDS awareness, preventive education,
  counseling testing

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Voluntary Donor Base

• From a few 1000 units collected in 1984
• to
• 24,789 units collected in 2008
• 100 voluntary donors
• No replacement
• 90 are young, well educated Males

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Life De India

• Strategy-
• We approached Voluntary blood Donors
• at BDCs held at IT companies
• Not at College camps
• With IEC material one-is-to-one counseling

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Display of posters
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Distribution of pamphlets
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Counseling session
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Donor Registration
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Information given-
Eligibility Criteria Between 18 40 yrs, in
good health weigh over 55kg.    No H/o risk
factors for HIV / Hepatitis, etc Committed to be
on registry for many years inform changes in
contact info. A Though a person can donate till
60 years of age we enroll till 40
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What happens when one signs up with the Stem
Cell Registry India?

• A blood sample will be drawn to test for your
  Tissue (HLA) type.
• Your contact information and Tissue (HLA) Type
  will be stored on our Stem Cell Registry
  database.
• The Registry will be searched to find a donor
  with the perfect tissue (HLA)-match for patients
  needing stem cell (bone marrow) transplants

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What happens when I sign up with the Stem Cell
Registry India?
Donor Name YYYYYYYY Age 25 yrs Donor ID
XYZ12345 HLA Type A2, A68 B35, B60, DR4, DR15,
DR51, DR53
Patient Name XXXXXXX Age 3 yrs Diagnosis
Leukemia HLA Type A2, A68 B35, B60, DR4, DR15,
DR51, DR53  
You may have headache, bone or muscular pain as a
side effect of the injection, but this will
disappear shortly after donation.  
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Are there any benefits for the donor?
No, But for the patient it is the difference
between Life Death!!
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• Stem Cells are Collected from-
• Hipbone by a surgical procedure, which is why it
  is called Bone Marrow Transplantation.
• Or by Apherisis (peripheral blood stem cell)
• Or from umbilical cord blood of a new born baby
  and stored frozen in a Cord Blood Bank

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Blood Stem Cell collection by the Apheresis
blood donation
  During Apheresis, your blood stem cells alone
will be filtered out by the machine and the rest
of the blood will be returned to you.
It is a very safe process carried out at the
blood centre takes about one a half hours.
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Pilot project results

• Of the Vol. Blood donors contacted (25)
• Have registered as Stem Cell Donors - 3744
• Profile of Blood Stem Cell Donors-
• Males 99
• Young 20-35yrs old
• Well informed, educated, traceable (IT sector)

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Results of pilot proves that

• Approaching the existing voluntary blood
  donors results in good response if one to one
  proper information counseling is provided
• Community-based awareness may not give good
  results
• But to keep track of our SCR-I donors we have
  initiated

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SCR-I Google Groups
Subject Google Groups You've been invited to
stem cell registry-india LIFE de INDIA
stemcellregistry_at_gmail.com as invited you to join
thestemcellregistry-india group with this
message Dear "Stem Cell Registry - India"
member,Welcome to your own Google Group!As a
member of "Stem Cell Registry - India" of the
Rotary TTK blood bank, Bangalore Medical Services
Trust (BMST), you will receive periodic messages
and updates about donor registries, stem cell
transplants and related issues.We need to be
able to contact you for years to come, so please
remember to always update any changes in your
contact details (address, phone number) at
stemcellregistry_at_gmail.comThanks again for
signing up on this life-saving service.Warm
regards,The "LIFE de INDIA" Team.
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Communication thr Email

• Updates about donor registries
• Update about stem cell transplants related
  issues.
• Remind donors to always update any changes in
  their contact details

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Communication - SMS

• Send periodic messages
• Bulk SMS
• Provide BMST contact information
• Regular updates

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Never before was Saving a Life this
easy!! Register as a Stem Cell Donor at
SCR-I the first of its kind Stem Cell Registry -
India be a Stem Cell Donor Call us at
91-80-2528 7903 or Email stemcellregistry_at_bangalo
remedical.org LIFE de INDIA!
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• Ways you can get involved with SCR-I
• Register as a potential Stem Cell Donor
• HLA typing costs a lot (Rs.6,000). Please also
  consider paying for your own HLA typing!
• Other ways you can help.
• Motivate others to register
• Find funding support for the Registry
• Support HLA typing costs (Rs.6,000) of donors who
  are unable to pay for it.
• LIFE de INDIA!

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Rotary Bangalore - TTK Blood Bank
Regional Blood Transfusion Centre
Bangalore Medical Services Trust HAL III Stage,
New Thippasandra Main Road, Bangalore 560075,
India 91(0)80-2528 7903 91(0)80-2529
3486 Website www.bangaloremedical.org Email
rotaryttk_at_bangaloremedical.org
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Thank you