Clan link is clue to saving lives!

By ALASTAIR ROBERTSON

HAVING a Scottish clan name could provide you with more than just a romantic link to your past, according to scientists who now believe it could also ensure your future.

Genetic research has shown people with the same clan name are much more closely related than was previously thought, which should make tissue donor matches easier to find.

That in turn could help save thousands of leukaemia sufferers and others struck down by immune-system disorders, according to a leading geneticist.

The findings have been revealed at the same time as the announcement that a donor has been found, in the face of huge odds, for Millie Forbes, a 20-year-old Clan Forbes member from Aberdeenshire who has acute myeloid leukaemia.

Like thousands of other sufferers in the UK, she needs a transplant of matching bone marrow as a last-resort treatment, after the disease returned following successful chemotherapy.

Yesterday, her parents Jonathan and Nicky praised the Scottish clan system in the US for its leading role in the search for a donor. Millie’s grandfather is Chief of Clan Forbes.

But it is not known if the donor, whose identity is secret, is also a Forbes clan member.

Cancer experts already know that the chances of finding matching bone marrow, or similar tissue for medical donation, are far higher among close family members.

Now according to research by author Bryan Sykes, professor of human genetics at Oxford University, it appears that even scattered clan members are more closely related than previously thought.

This emerged during research in the Hebrides for his book on the handing down of male chromosomes, Adam’s Curse.

By analysing DNA samples, he found that an unexpectedly high proportion of people called Macdonald, plus members of related clans with different names, were directly descended from Somerled, the 12th century warrior and founder of the clan.

Not everyone who bears a clan name will be related to the chief, as some, such as former slaves or criminals, may have taken the name out of convenience.

Intermarriage and dozens of generations will also have diluted the gene pool.

But even so, Sykes found that 20% of Macdonalds could claim Somerled as their direct ancestor, a figure he described as "astonishingly high".

That is likely to mean many Macdonalds are more closely matched genetically than had been thought.

Sykes said the same close relationship would be true of any other clan that had distinct territories and homeland.

And that in turns means an appeal for donors of the same clan name - perhaps through clan societies and associations on the internet - could possibly narrow the field of search dramatically and increase the chances of finding a match.

"Judging by my research on Clan Donald, rather more Forbes members will be related to the clan chief than is generally thought," Sykes said.

"So people in the clan are more related to one another than to anyone else."

Steve Jones, professor of genetics at University College, London, said: "I can’t think why no one has used this idea before. It will not guarantee a match, but it is an excellent tool for searching for donors."

MARROW DONOR FOUND FOR LEUKAEMIA SUFFERER

A YOUNG Scot desperately in need of a bone marrow transplant has been found a donor who could save her life.

Leukaemia sufferer Millie Forbes is expected to have an operation soon following the successful match-up. Forbes, 20, has been the subject of intensive campaigning to recruit new bone marrow donors by supporters across Britain.

Forbes, from Alford in Aberdeenshire, caught the imagination of young people across the UK when the Millie Campaign was launched in August by her near-neighbour, comedian Billy Connolly.

It urged people to sign up to the register of potential bone marrow donors held by the Anthony Nolan Trust, the worldwide marrow donor database.

Yesterday, her parents Jonathan and Nicky praised the Scottish clan system in the US for its leading role in the search for a donor. Her grandfather is chief of Clan Forbes, but it is not known if the donor, whose identity is secret, is also a Forbes clan member.

Campaign organiser Val Rahtz said the donor’s identity and nationality could not be revealed because of strict confidentiality rules. Forbes is in hospital to prepare for the surgery.