Organ donations soon faster, cheaper

A breakthrough medical technology could bring hope to child leukaemia patients and people awaiting organ transplants.

UNSW scientists have developed a new tissue-typing technology that is faster, cheaper and more accurate than current technology. Tissue typing is necessary to avoid immunological "rejection" of tissues or organs transferred from a donor to a recipient.

Determining whether tissue is compatible involves tissue-typing tests to examine an individual's Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) proteins.

These proteins are located on the surface of nearly every cell in the body. Significant differences in the structure of proteins between a donor and patient indicate whether the tissue will be rejected or not.

The existing method for tissue-typing sequences the DNA that encodes for the HLA protein. This blueprint is used to predict the protein structure. However, the process is complex, expensive and requires highly skilled staff to interpret the results.

The new technology could help save lives by broadening the base of available tissue and organ donors, and boosting the speed and accuracy of essential tissue-matching required, thereby avoiding the complications – and heartbreak – that come with organ rejection.

UNSW's commercialisation division, NewSouth Innovations (NSi) has a provisional patent for the technology and is offering licensing opportunities to industry. If it becomes the new standard it could save lives and reduce suffering for thousands of Australians, according to UNSW scientist, Matthew Clemson, the technology's co-inventor.

"Its speed, accuracy and cost advantages would bring more companies into the tissue-matching market and broaden the base of stem cell and organ donors who could be matched to potential recipients," Clemson predicts.

If that happens, tissue-typing could become a routine test done whenever an individual donates blood or has a blood sample taken by a health professional. The cost and complexity of the current technology prohibit this.

"Tissue-typing a broader base of people would have several benefits," says Dr Wallace Bridge, the other co-inventor from UNSW's Entrepreneurs in Science Unit. "It would immediately benefit children who have life-threatening diseases, such as leukaemia and aplastic anaemia, who require stem cells from the bone marrow of living donors."

Seventy per cent of those needing a stem cell transplant can't have one because a suitable donor cannot be found. The large international databases that would result from adopting UNSW's technology would dramatically increase the chances of a successful donation.

(Source: University of New South Wales: November 2008.)