Bone marrow transplants – timeline
Bone marrow transplants are now routinely carried out worldwide to treat people with life-threatening blood disorders, but back in the 1950s, bone marrow transplants could only be done when the donor and recipient were related.
Bone marrow transplants are used worldwide and are a prime example of a successful therapy.
Early 1900s
Doctors make the first ever attempt to treat patients with a ’s bone marrow. However, this treatment is unsuccessful, as the bone marrow is given by mouth.
1956
The first successful bone marrow transplant between a related donor and is performed by Dr E Donnall Thomas in New York. The patient, who has , is given and then treated with healthy bone marrow from an identical twin.
Dr E Donnall Thomas
Dr E Donnall Thomas performed the first successful bone marrow transplant between a related donor and recipient. He is pictured here, in a research lab, early in his career.
1958
French oncologist and immunologist Dr Georges Mathé performs a human bone marrow transplant using non-related bone marrow on six Yugoslav engineers who were irradiated at different levels after a nuclear reactor incident. Following the transplant, Mathé defined the ‘graft versus ’ disease in his patients and was the first to study the debilitating and wasting condition that follows . He deduced that this must be due to an immune reaction of the cells in the donor marrow against the cells in the human patient.
Dr Georges Mathé
Dr Georges Mathé was a French oncologist and immunologist. In November 1958, he performed the first successful bone marrow transplant between unrelated human donors.
1958
French immunologist Dr Jean Dausset identifies (HLA), which help the to recognise what belongs in the body and what does not. HLA compatibility between a donor and recipient is necessary for transplants to be successful.
1960
Researchers discover bone marrow contains at least two kinds of stem cells – blood or stem cells that form all the types of blood cells in the body and stromal stem cells that form bone, , fat and connective tissue.
1968
First bone marrow transplant for non- treatment. US immunologist Dr Robert Good uses a bone marrow transplant to treat an 8-year-old boy with (SCID). The donor is an HLA-matched sister.
1973
First bone marrow transplant between unrelated patients. A 5-year-old patient in New York with SCID is treated with multiple infusions of bone marrow from a donor in Denmark.
1980
Dr Jean Dausset is one of three co-winners of the in and Medicine for his discovery of HLA and its role in immune reactions.
Dr Jean Dausset
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1980 was awarded jointly to Drs Jean Dausset, Baruj Benacerraf and George D Snell “for their discoveries concerning genetically determined structures on the cell surface that regulate immunological reactions”.
1988
The workdwide register of bone marrow donors – World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) is established.
1990
The Nobel Prize is awarded to Americans Dr Joseph Murray and Dr E Donnall Thomas for their pioneering work in kidney and bone marrow transplantation, respectively.
1992
First of bone marrow. Bone marrow and a kidney from a baboon are transplanted into a patient. The patient dies 26 days later from .
1995
A bone marrow xenotransplant is performed on patient Jeff Getty, who has (AIDS). Cells from a baboon are used because they are naturally resistant to the (HIV) that causes AIDS. The operation is not successful as the cells quickly disappear from Getty’s system. Jeff Getty continued to struggle with HIV for many years and died in 2006.
1996
The NZ Bone Marrow Donor Registry (NZBMDR) is established.
2007
The number of donors and cord blood units registered on the Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide (WMDA) database passes 11 million.
2014
World Marrow Donor Day (WMDD) is established, it is celebrated all over the world every 3rd Saturday of September.
2021
The New Zealand Bone Marrow Donor Registry (NZBMDR) lists approximately 13,000 potential donors who are willing to donate cells from their bone marrow to patients world wide. NZBMDR is part of the WMDA worldwide network of registries which contain over 29 million unrelated volunteer donors and cord blood units.
