Who Am I? Eyebrow Follicles Minimize Donor-Derived DNA for Germline Testing After Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

TL;DR

Eyebrow follicles contain less donor DNA than other tissues, making them ideal for accurate germline testing after blood stem cell transplants.

Contribution

The study identifies eyebrow follicles as a reliable tissue source for minimizing donor DNA contamination in germline testing after HSCT.

Findings

Eyebrow follicles had median donor DNA of 1% (NGS) and 3% (STR), significantly lower than buccal swabs and nails.

STR assays detected higher donor DNA fractions than NGS at low-level chimerism.

Matched-related donors and perfect HLA matches were associated with lower donor DNA contamination.

Abstract

Germline genetic testing plays a critical role in diagnosing inherited predispositions and increasingly guides therapeutic and surveillance choices—but becomes technically challenging after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), when donor-derived DNA contaminates host tissues. To address this, we compared donor-derived DNA across three accessible tissues—buccal swab, nail, and eyebrow follicles—in recipients after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation using two orthogonal assays (34-SNP next-generation sequencing and a 27-marker short tandem repeat panel) and modeled clinical covariates that influence chimerism. Eyebrow follicles showed consistently low donor DNA (median 1% by NGS; 3% by STR) whereas buccal swabs and nails carried substantially higher donor fractions (+25 and +22 percentage points versus eyebrow, respectively; both p < 0.01). Across methods, STR yielded on average ≈6 percentage points higher donor fractions than NGS at low-level chimerism. Several transplant covariates correlated with chimerism: matched-related donors and a perfect HLA match (10/10) were each associated with lower donor DNA (≈12–14 and 15–20 percentage points, respectively); longer times since hematopoietic stem cell transplantation correlated with lower levels for nail samples, and donor–recipient sex match correlated with higher donor DNA (~7–8 percentage points). Even low-level chimerism can distort germline variant interpretation. We propose a pragmatic protocol for post-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation germline testing that prioritizes eyebrow follicles as the default tissue. An SNP-based quality control assay is used to flag unsafe donor fractions (≥ 5–10%) before comprehensive germline analysis, reducing the risk that chimeric donor DNA distorts germline variant interpretation.

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