ANALYSIS OF HLA-DR MATCHING IN DNA-TYPED CADAVER KIDNEY-TRANSPLANTS

The effect of matching for HLA-DR antigens was analyzed retrospectivel y in 3455 cadaver kidney transplants that were typed by the DNA-RFLP m ethod. HLA-DR matching improved the one-year graft survival rate signi ficantly (P<0.01). Importantly, in 718 first transplants in which the number of mismatches assigned by serological typing was different from that assigned by DNA typing, only the DNA results showed a significan t impact of matching on graft outcome (P=0.03). These results demonstr ate that DNA typing is clinically relevant. We were unable to confirm that the HLA-DR6 specificity or the DR6-split DRB1 1302 are associat ed with poor graft survival.