LARGE-SCALE OLIGONUCLEOTIDE TYPING FOR HLA-DRB1 3/4 AND HLA-DQB1 IS HIGHLY ACCURATE, SPECIFIC, AND RELIABLE/

DNA typing of HLA class II alleles of the DRB1/3/4 and DQB1 loci using sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes and polymerase chain reactio n-amplified DNA was used for the large-scale typing of donors for the National Marrow Donor Program unrelated donor registry. The results of quality control analysis for the first 7 months of the project show t he typing to be highly accurate, specific, and reliable. The percent o f correctly classified HLA oligotypes based on 1652 DRB1 and 1652 DQB1 assignments was greater than 99% for DRB1/DRB3/DRB4 and greater than 98% for DQB1. This level of accuracy is particularly remarkable becaus e the quality control samples could not be distinguished from 9011 don or samples tested at the same time by the laboratories.