ABO compatibility between donor and recipient does not appear to be important when choosing the umbilical cord blood (UCB) unit for UBC transplantation (UCBT) for non-malignant disease, according to an analysis of 270 individuals.

Investigators looked at participants undergoing first UCBT for non-malignant disease. UCB and recipient ABO compatibility was considered matched, major mismatched, minor mismatched, or bi-directional mismatched. Researchers assessed the impact of ABO incompatibility on overall survival, graft failure, acute and chronic graft versus host disease (GVHD), time to neutrophil and platelet recovery, day 0 through 100 red blood cell transfusion burden, and donor hematopoietic chimerism. Among the results:

• ABO compatibility status did not significantly impact any outcomes.

• A trend was seen toward increased grade III through IV acute GVHD in those receiving major mismatched units.

Citation: Kudek M, Shanley R, Zantek N, McKenna D, Smith A, Miller W. The impact of graft-recipient ABO compatibility on outcomes after umbilical cord blood transplant for non-malignant disease. [Published online ahead of print August 2, 2016]. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. doi:10.1016/j.bbmt.2016.07.019.