Performance of LIFECODES HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 Typing Kits Using Luminex Platform in Koreans.

Background: Recently, HLA typing using PCR sequence-specific oligonucleotide (SSO) and the Luminex platform has been introduced and widely used in clinical laboratories.

Methods: We evaluated the performance of LIFECODES HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 typing kits (Immucor, USA) on 108 samples that had been tested with WAKFlow kits (Wakunaga, Japan) and 54 samples (18 for each A, B, and DRB1 kits) including rare alleles in Koreans (gene frequency < 1.0%) that had been assigned by sequence-based typing (SBT).

Results: LIFECODES 2-digit typing results were 100% concordant with WAKFlow and SBT results. For allelic group assignment, ambiguous results were frequently observed for A*02:01g/*02:07g (n = 47), *02:06g/*02:10g (n = 15), *24:02g/*24:20g (n = 40) and DRB1*04 allelic groups (n = 11). False assignment was observed in 5 cases (2 cases of A*11:02g to A*11:01g; 3 cases of A*26:02g to A*26:01g) due to false reactions of probe 206 and 368, respectively. Additional false reaction did not affect allelic group assignment.

Conclusions: LIFECODES HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 typing kits showed good performance in Koreans with correct designation of 2-digit assignment and possible assumption of HLA allelic groups in most cases. They can be properly used for organ transplantation and donor screening of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in Korea.