Major ABO Incompatibility in Non-Myeloablative Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant for Sickle Cell Disease—Not an Insurmountable Obstacle

Abstract

With advances in conditioning strategies and graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) prevention, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a safe, curative treatment option for pediatric patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). However, donor options have been limited in non-myeloablative matched sibling donor (MSD) setting by excluding recipients with major ABO blood group incompatible donors due to concern of the risk of significant complications such as pure red cell aplasia (PRCA). We present three cases of successful HSCT with major ABO incompatibility with their donors, and discuss strategies to safely expand the donor pool to include these donors.