The Correlation of HLA Allele Frequencies and HLA Antibodies in Sensitized Kidney Transplantation Candidates

BackgroundThe clinical importance of the HLA system is as a transplant antigen. However, correlations between the development and strength of the immune response and HLA genes or specific foreign antigens are not clear.ObjectivesThe objectives of this study were to detect HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 allele frequencies and HLA antibodies in sensitized patients, and to investigate the correlation between the HLA alleles and HLA sensitization.MethodsThis study included 383 sensitized patients and 1000 unsensitized patients awaiting kidney transplantation from 2001–2010. HLA -A, -B, and -DRB1 typing was performed using sequence-specific primer–polymerase chain reactions (SSP-PCR). Arlequin statistical analysis software was used to calculate the HLA allele frequencies among the 2 groups. The anti–HLA-specific antibodies of sensitized patients were identified and analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).ResultsThe numbers of identified HLA -A, -B, and -DRB1 alleles were 20, 43, and 14, respectively. The 5 most frequent HLA alleles in the 2 groups were not different: A–02, 11, 24, 33, 26; B–46, 60, 13, 75, 58; and DR–9, 15, 12, 4, 14. Among the sensitized group, the most frequent HLA-specific antibodies were as follows: A–2, 24, 68, 23, 32; B–27, 56, 57, 7, 60; and DR–7, 4, 9, 13, 17.ConclusionsThere was little correlation between HLA sensitization and HLA alleles of oneself. High frequency alleles and the specificity of high-frequency HLA antibodies were not consistent.