A. Hematopoiesis is the formation and development of blood cells. The transplantation process works by destroying a person's diseased or damaged marrow and replacing it with healthy marrow, stem or cord blood cells with the hope of developing a healthy and functioning cell system. Autologous transplantation uses the patient's own marrow. These cells are then stored in a cryogenic freezer until the patient is ready for transplant.
Allogeneic transplantation uses marrow from a family member or unrelated donor.
The ideal donor has a tissue type which matches the patient's tissue type as closely as possible. If no suitable family-member donor is available in some cases an unrelated donor may be identified. These donors come from the general population and are identified through marrow-donor registries. Syngeneic transplantation uses the marrow from an identical twin. A. Human leukocyte antigens are a series of protein molecules on the surface of all cells.