Alternative allogeneic donor sources for transplantation for childhood diseases: unrelated cord blood and haploidentical family donors.

Allogeneic stem cell transplantation has been demonstrated to be curative in a wide variety of pediatric malignant and nonmalignant diseases, and can be traced back over 50 years ago to the original report of Thomas et al. HLA matched sibling donors have been the gold standard for pediatric recipients requiring allogeneic donors for both nonmalignant and malignant conditions. However, only 25% of potential pediatric recipients possesses an HLA-matched sibling donor, and the frequency is even less in those with genetic nonmalignant conditions because of genetically affected other siblings within the family. Therefore, 75% to 90% of potential pediatric recipients require alternative allogeneic donor cells for treatment of their underlying conditions. Potential alternative allogeneic donor sources include unrelated cord blood donors, unrelated adult donors, and haploidentical family donors. In this article we review the experience of both unrelated cord blood donor and haploidentical family donor transplants in selected pediatric malignant and nonmalignant conditions.