Impact of Adopting Routine Luminex-Based Pretransplant Assessment of HLA Antibodies on Clinical Practice and Outcomes in Kidney Transplantation.

Background: Accumulating evidence suggests that detection of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies by solid phase Luminex assays predicts renal allograft outcomes. However, several controversies exist regarding the interpretation, reproducibility, impact and financial feasibility of global utilization of this assay in pretransplant assessment.

Methods: We studied short-term patient-centered outcomes, medical standards of care, and financial plausibility of using Luminex-based screening for HLA antibodies in renal allograft recipients compared to outcomes in nontested patients.

Results: We included 1808 patients assessed for transplantation from 2011 to 2018. Luminex-tested patients had lower rates of rejection in the first post-transplant week (OR 0.36, P < .001) and lower odds of antibody-mediated rejection in the first 6 months (OR 0.4, P = .004). Forty-four patients with preformed, donor-specific antibodies were transplanted, and everolimus was introduced into our protocols for low-risk patients based on risk stratification by Luminex results. The number of tests needed to be performed to prevent 1 episode of antibody-mediated rejection in the first 6 months was 28 (P = .004), which was financially plausible.

Conclusions: Routine pre-transplant assessment of HLA antibodies using Luminex assays may allow for better patient-centered, short-term graft outcomes and objective tailoring of immunosuppression at a financially plausible, cost-effective rate.