Date of Defense

4-25-2017

Date of Graduation

4-2017

Department

Biological Sciences

First Advisor

Karim Essani

Second Advisor

Rob Eversole

Abstract

A barrier to recruiting eligible individuals to join the marrow registry is the unawareness of the high demand and impact of a stem cell or bone marrow donation. The objective of this review is to raise awareness of the demand and impact of bone marrow and stem cell donation by displaying the detrimental effects of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and the process of an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant curing AML. The pathogenesis of AML gives light to the seriousness of a hematopoietic cancer requiring a transplant to survive. Due to malignancy in the hematopoietic system, chemotherapy does not have a high success rate, so physicians turn to allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants as treatment. The wide diversity of Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLAs), markers used to find a suitable donor, puts limitations on the transplant procedure on individuals. If the patient does not fully match the donor, the donated hematopoietic stem cells will mount a possible fatal immune response against the recipients’ cells and tissues, as if it was foreign. The increasingly diverse HLA marker haplotypes highly demands an increase in the marrow registry, displaying the importance of eligible individuals to join the marrow registry.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Restricted

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