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."

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.