China has developed its own typing reagent of hematopoietic stem cell, which could be used to cure leukemia, according to sources with the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences.

The home-made HLA-DRB1 typing reagent is cheaper than imported reagent of its kind and is easier and quicker in use, said Wang Shengqi, head of the key laboratory of biological genetic chips under the academy, who has led the team of this research for five years.

The new typing reagent can be used to test all the 13 discovered genetic types of HLA-DRB1, covering all the 18 known serological types, according to Wang.

Transplantation of hematopoietic stem cell is the most effective treatment of leukemia. Bone marrow donors have to go through HLA genetic typing to find a matchable leukemia patient, he said.

The reagent is also applicable in organ transplantation, forensic medicine and HLA-related studies, Wang revealed, noting that it breaks the monopoly of foreign bone marrow and organ transplantation typing reagents in China.

The reagent has been approved by the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) this month, and will be soon put into production by a Shenzhen-based company, he said.
China is estimated to have nearly 4 million leukemia patients, and the number is increasing by 40,000 every year, Wang said. The national data base of bone marrow had received donation from more than 290,000 people by the end of July this year, according to previous reports.

(Xinhua News Agency September 25, 2005)