Bone marrow donors other than HLA genotypically identical siblings for patients with thalassemia.

This report describes the successful bone marrow transplantation of three children with thalassemia who received bone marrow, one from an HLA identical but mixed lymphocyte culture-reactive sibling, the other two from an HLA phenotypically identical parent. Evidence of engraftment was detected early (19-21 days) in all three children and only grade II acute GvHD was observed in one patient. Our report indicates that thalassemic patients can be cured by bone marrow transplantation from selected donors other than HLA genotypically identical siblings.