COMPARISON OF SEROLOGICAL AND DNA PCR-SSP TYPING RESULTS FOR HLA-A AND HLA-B IN 421 BLACK INDIVIDUALS - A COLLABORATIVE TRANSPLANT STUDY REPORT

In a recent study, we observed a discrepancy race of 8.5% between the results of molecular and serological HLA class I typing in Caucasian k idney donors and recipients. In the present study we addressed the que stion how often black individuals are mistyped using the serological t echnique. 421 Blacks whose HLA typing results were reported to the Col laborative Transplant Study (CTS) were typed retrospectively for HLA-A and -B using a PCR-SSP method. 78 of the 421 individuals (18.5%) show ed a discrepancy for HLA-A and 107 individuals (25.4%) for HLA-B. 36.3 % of all individuals tested showed either an HLA-A or an HLA-B discrep ancy. 13.1% of the discrepancies at the HLA-A locus were due to antige n misassignments and 4.8% were due to missed antigens. HLA-B discrepan cies were caused in 15.7% by antigen misassignments and in 10.5% by mi ssed antigens. These results demonstrate an impressive advantage of th e PCR-SSP method for HLA-A and HLA-B locus typing over serological typ ing in black individuals. The high typing discrepancy rate observed in Blacks provides a strong argument for replacing serological typing by the DNA method. It is likely that this will improve the HLA matching correlation in clinical transplantation in Blacks. Human Immunology 59 , 512-517 (1998). (C) American Society for Histocompatibility and Immu nogenetics, 1998. Published by Elsevier Science Inc.