A Medical XPress article from March 11 presents new data about the genetics of blood stem cells in relation to blood donations. The new research completed at the Francis Crick Institute looked at genetic changes in stem cells after individuals donated blood. There were two groups studied, one group consisted of individuals who donated blood often (3x per year for 40 years) and the other group consisted of individuals who had donated blood less than a total of five times. After blood is drawn, stem cells have to replenish the supply and the researchers were interested to see how genetic mutations of stem cells differed between the two groups. The findings were that both groups had mutations to the DNMT3A gene which is common in leukemia patients. However, in the frequent donors, the mutation was not in the preleukemic position. When the stem cells were injected into mice, the frequent donor stem cells behaved normally while the stem cells from not frequent donors resulted in the emergence of leukemia.
According to Medicine Plus, a DNMT3A gene mutation can lead to cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (CN-AML). One-third of CN-AML cases result from a genetic mutation but are somatic and therefore not inherited. Although the Francis Crick Institute researchers urge a larger study to confirm their results, understanding how genetic changes in stem cells arise could help with leukemia treatment in the future.
