Investigation of the relationship between the results of cross match tests and HLA allels in kidney transplantation

Objective: Crossmatching as part of the immunogenetical testing is very important prior to organ transplantation, particularly kidney transplantation. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there was an association between frequencies of HLA alleles in chronic kidney disease patients and the results of Luminex DSA crossmatching, considered to be most sofisticated crossmatching method. For this purpose, results of Luminex-DSA-crossmatching tests, performed between 2015 and 2018, belonging to 586 patients were retrospectively analysed. Method: HLA typing of donor and recipient candidates were performed by using PCR-SSOP-luminex method (Gen-Probe) with Lifecodes HLA kits. For crossmatching, Luminex DSA method was performed according to manufacturer's instruction. For statistical analysis SPSS Statistics 23.0 and Arlequin v3.5.2.2 programs were used. Results: In CKD patients, HLA-A*02 (22%), A*24 (16%), A*03 (11%), HLA-B*35 (17%), B*51 (14%), HLA-DRB1*11 22(%), DRB1*04 (18%), DRB1*03 (11%) were determined to be as the most frequent alleles. Luminex DSA XM test results between donor and recipients were determined to be 14% positive and 86% negative. Statistical analysis demonstrated a positive correlation between HLA-A*29 (p=0.003), HLA-B*08 (p=0.036), HLA-DRB1*01 (p=0.001), HLA-DRB1*03 (p=0.0384) alleles and Luminex DSA XM. Conclusion: Positive relationship between frequency of HLA alleles and Luminex DSA XM method we observed in CKD patients will contribute to the literature. Keywords: Frequency of HLA alleles, Lymphocyte cross match, flow cytometric crossmatch, luminex cross-match, organ transplantation