The Impact of HLA-C Matching on Donor Identification Rates in a European-Caucasian Population (original) (raw)

2014, Frontiers in immunology

The degree of HLA concordance with the patient has long been known to be the major donor-related prediction factor for the success of hematopoietic stem cell transplantations and, with the progress of HLA typing technology, selection criteria became more stringent with regard to the recommended loci and resolution. A late refinement was HLA-C matching, which gained broader acceptance only after the turn of the millennium. The enormous HLA polymorphism has always necessitated registries with a large number of donors in order to be able to provide well-matched donors to a substantial fraction of patients. Using a biostatistical approach, we investigated the impact of adding HLA-C at low or high resolution as a supplementary matching criterion on some key parameters in donor provision for a European-Caucasian population. Starting point is donor selection based on allele level matching for HLA-A, -B, -DRB1, and, optionally, HLA-DQB1. Without typing for HLA-C, 68% of the donors selected ...