POTENTIAL FOR PREIMPLANTATION DETERMINATION OF HUMAN PLATELET ANTIGENTYPE USING DNA AMPLIFICATION - A STRATEGY FOR PREVENTION OF ALLO-IMMUNE THROMBOCYTOPENIA

To demonstrate that fetal human platelet antigen (HPA1) type can be de termined by amplification from picogram quantities of DNA, nested olig onucleotide DNA primers were designed to amplify a portion of the plat elet glycoprotein GpIIIa gene which spans the polymorphic HPA site. Sp ecific oligonucleotides were designed to hybridise either to the ampli fied HPA la allele or to the HPA1b allele. DNA dilutions were used as a template and HPA1 type, determined by this method from as little as 2 pg of DNA in 6 cases, was compared to direct typing of blood from th e same individuals. In each case nested polymerase chain reaction ampl ified the specific HPA locus from as little as 2 pg of DNA and determi nation of HPA 1 type agreed with typing of blood.