Today, DNA Genotek announced our involvement in a significant pilot project with the UK's largest bone marrow registry, the Anthony Nolan Trust. The details of this exciting project follow:
DNA Genotek, a leading provider of products for biological sample collection, stabilization and preparation, today announced that The Anthony Nolan Trust, the UK's largest bone marrow donor registry, has selected Oragene•DNA for a pilot project aimed at increasing donor recruitment. Bone marrow donor registries, also known as HLA registries, use HLA DNA testing to match leukemia patients with prospective donors. The pilot project will determine if donor recruitment can be increased significantly with the use of non-invasive, saliva-based DNA collection compared to blood collection.
The Anthony Nolan Trust has traditionally required all registry participants to have a blood sample collected either at their doctor's office or by phlebotomists at recruitment clinics. Under this pilot project, the potential donor provides a saliva sample without any assistance (for example, at home) and mails the sample back through the regular postal system, thereby facilitating and dramatically reducing the cost of the entire process. DNA samples collected with Oragene•DNA are easier, safer, and faster to collect than other methods and remain stable at ambient temperature for transport and storage prior to being analyzed at the lab.
There are currently over 400,000 people included in The Anthony Nolan Trust's registry, but many more participants are needed. 70% of patients needing a transplant cannot find a compatible match from within their families and rely on registries to find an unrelated donor for life-saving procedures. Through using Oragene•DNA, The Anthony Nolan Trust expects an increase in donor recruitment and therefore the likelihood of matches between those patients needing bone marrow transplants and potential donors held in their database.
Ailsa Ogilvie, director of operations at The Anthony Nolan Trust stated: "We have historically recruited new people to our register using blood samples, but our early laboratory results confirm that Oragene•DNA provides the high quality DNA that we need. We are optimistic that this pilot project will simplify the recruitment process and ultimately increase the number of people willing to join our register. Following the successful completion of this pilot phase, we hope to switch completely to using saliva samples to recruit new donors to our register via Oragene•DNA from late 2010."
"By streamlining the sample collection and transportation procedures, Oragene•DNA enables The Anthony Nolan Trust to focus on its primary goal of increasing donor recruitment", said Ian Curry, president and CEO, DNA Genotek, Inc. "Oragene•DNA provides a reliable, cost-effective, and scalable method that is ideal for bone marrow donor registries worldwide. Our product is easy to use, safe to transport through the mail and remains stable at ambient temperature for long periods of time. What we learn from this pilot project will help chart the future for The Anthony Nolan Trust and we are certainly proud to be part of this effort."
Note: The pilot project referenced in this press release is currently available in limited areas in the United Kingdom. It is not expected to be available nationally until the summer of 2010.
Learn more at the European Immunogenetics and Histocompatibility Conference (EFI) in Florence, Italy May 17th when Alasdair J. McWhinnie of the Anthony Nolan Trust will present a session titled: "Saliva specimens collected with Oragene are a reliable alternative to blood and buccal swabs for large scale DNA extraction and HLA typing of recruits for hematopoietic stem cell donor registries." Register here.
Saliva is one of the most accessible of our body's bio-fluids making saliva sample collection easy and non-invasive. Saliva also harbours a wide spectrum of genetic data that can be used for genetic research and clinical diagnostic applications. It might surprise you to know that much confusion surrounds the source of genomic DNA in saliva. It certainly came as a surprise to me when I met with a number of customers on a recent trip across the continent.
In recent years, we've seen a marked increase in the desire to understand the genetic basis of disease as a means to improve patient diagnosis and treatment. While the range of research spans the spectrum of known diseases, all genetic research projects share one vital building block in that they require DNA as a starting point. Traditionally, DNA has been extracted from white blood cells extracted from whole blood. White blood cells are an excellent source of large amounts of high quality genomic DNA. However, because of the invasiveness and cost of obtaining, transporting and processing blood samples, researchers and clinicians have long searched for alternative methods. Over the past few years, saliva has become recognized as a very important and reliable alternative to blood samples for genetic research, clinical diagnostics, pharmacogenomics and more. What exactly is it that makes saliva such a good alternative to blood for genetic applications? It all comes down to the source of DNA in saliva.
Surprisingly, many people I spoke with assumed the source of DNA in saliva is strictly buccal epithelial cells, however, studies show that up to 74%(1) of the DNA in saliva comes from white blood cells. Yielding virtually the same amount of DNA per volume and the same DNA quality, saliva can be considered as good and as reliable a source of DNA for a wide variety of genetic applications. One thing to note however is that not all oral samples are equal.
Oral Sample Collection Methods
There are three methods for collecting oral DNA samples - dry, wet and non-invasive procedures.
Dry procedures require the donor to insert a cytobrush, buccal swabs or other collection device into the mouth where tissue is scraped from the gum and cheek surfaces. These methods collect primarily buccal cells that are lower quality and are potentially contaminated with bacteria from the teeth and other surfaces.
Wet procedures include swishing liquids in the mouth and spitting them into a collecting vessel. Mouthwash, which can contain a high percentage of alcohol content, is typically used for this procedure. The protocol, which can request the donor to swish for up to one minute, can burn and be uncomfortable for the donor. Mouthwash is also designed to remove bacteria from teeth and other mouth surfaces which results in a high amount of bacterial content being released into the sample.
Both the dry and wet methods described above do not prevent bacteria from growing in the sample and do not actively stabilize DNA. These methods also involve the insertion of an object or substance into the mouth. While it is arguably less invasive than venipuncture, it does not quite meet the definition of ‘non-invasive'.
Completely non-invasive collection using Oragene•DNA is a simple, painless procedure that requires the donor to spit into a collection device. After providing a sample and closing the device, a solution is released from the cap to mix with the saliva. This solution stabilizes the DNA for long-term storage at room temperature and prevents bacterial contamination. There is no requirement to insert an object or substance into the mouth - the user simply holds the tube and spits into it. In my opinion, that's the true definition of non-invasive DNA collection. As we like to say at DNA Genotek, "Just Spit, That's It!"
The high quality and high quantity of DNA collected with Oragene•DNA provides an excellent option for applications ranging from the largest molecular epidemiologic studies in remote locations, to bio-banking or HLA typing and even a single personalized medicine test.
Did anything in this article surprise you? Leave us a comment and let us know.
Interested in learning more about non-invasive DNA sample collection with Oragene•DNA? Register for our live webinar on April 21, 2010 at 11:00am ET.
References: (1) Thiede, C. et al. Buccal swabs but not mouthwash samples can be used to obtain pretransplant DNA fingerprints from recipients of allogeneic bone marrow transplant. (2000). Bone Marrow Transplantation. 25(5): 575-577.)