Menu
April 21, 2020  |  

Recipients receiving better HLA-matched hematopoietic cell transplantation grafts, uncovered by a novel HLA typing method, have superior survival: A retrospective study

Authors: Mayor, Neema P and Hayhurst, James D and Turner, Thomas R and Szydlo, Richard M and Shaw, Bronwen E and Bultitude, Will P and Sayno, Jex-Ray and Tavarozzi, Franco and Latham, Katy and Anthias, Chloe and Robinson, James and Braund, Henny and Danby, Robert and Perry, Julia and Wilson, Marie C and Bloor, Adrian J and McQuaker, I. Grant and MacKinnon, Stephen and Marks, David and Pagliuca, Antonia and Potter, Michael N and Potter, Victoria T and Russel, Nigel H and Thomson, Kirsty J and Madrigal, J. Alejandro and Marsh, Steven GE

HLA matching at an allelic-level resolution for volunteer unrelated donor (VUD) hematopoietic cell transplanta- tion (HCT) results in improved survival and fewer post-transplant complications. Limitations in typing technolo- gies used for the hyperpolymorphic HLA genes have meant that variations outside of the antigen recognition domain (ARD) have not been previously characterized in HCT. Our aim was to explore the extent of diversity out- side of the ARD and determine the impact of this diversity on transplant outcome. Eight hundred ninety-one VUD-HCT donors and their recipients transplanted for a hematologic malignancy in the United Kingdom were ret- rospectively HLA typed at an ultra-high resolution (UHR) for HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1, -DQB1, and -DPB1 using next- generation sequencing technology. Matching was determined at full gene level for HLA class I and at a coding DNA sequence level for HLA class II genes. The HLA matching status changed in 29.1% of pairs after UHR HLA typ- ing. The 12/12 UHR HLA matched patients had significantly improved 5-year overall survival when compared with those believed to be 12/12 HLA matches based on their original HLA typing but were found to be mismatched after UHR HLA typing (54.8% versus 30.1%, P= .022). Survival was also significantly better in 12/12 UHR HLA- matched patients when compared with those with any degree of mismatch at this level of resolution (55.1% ver- sus 40.1%, P= .005). This study shows that better HLA matching, found when typing is done at UHR that includes exons outside of the ARD, introns, and untranslated regions, can significantly improve outcomes for recipients of a VUD-HCT for a hematologic malignancy and should be prospectively performed at donor selection.

Journal: Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2018.12.768
Year: 2019

Read publication

Talk with an expert

If you have a question, need to check the status of an order, or are interested in purchasing an instrument, we're here to help.