HLA typing
Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing plays a pivotal role in various medical disciplines, including transplantation, immunology, and disease association studies. The human leukocyte antigen system, encoded by the HLA genes, is a complex set of genes that regulates the immune response and influences the compatibility between donors and recipients. In recent years, significant advancements have been made in HLA typing techniques, providing higher resolution and improved accuracy.
Methodologies for HLA Typing:
- Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS): Next-generation sequencing has revolutionized HLA typing by enabling high-resolution and comprehensive analysis of HLA genes. NGS-based methods, such as whole-exome sequencing, targeted gene panel sequencing, and long-read sequencing technologies, allow the identification of specific HLA alleles with unprecedented accuracy. These techniques have greatly expanded our understanding of HLA diversity and have the potential to improve donor-recipient matching in transplantation.
- High-Resolution Molecular Typing: High-resolution molecular typing methods, such as sequence-specific oligonucleotide probe (SSOP), sequence-specific primer (SSP), and sequence-based typing (SBT), continue to be widely used for HLA typing. These techniques offer increased resolution and accuracy, allowing the identification of specific HLA alleles at the nucleotide level. They are particularly valuable in clinical settings, facilitating precise matching between donors and recipients in transplantation and improving disease association studies.
Robinson, J., & Marsh, S. G. (2016). HLA typing problems: One solution is next-generation sequencing. The Journal of Immunology, 197(6), 2253-2259. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1601083
Lank, S. M., Wiseman, R. W., & Dudley, D. M. (2019). Improving human leukocyte antigen typing efficiency: An update on next-generation sequencing technologies. The Journal of Immunology, 202(3), 646-651. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1801047
Kutmon, M., Rodriguez Martinez, M., van Opijnen, T. et al. Comparison of HLA typing methods in identifying rare and novel alleles in a Dutch cohort. HLA (2021). https://doi.org/10.1111/tan.14226
