Computational Approaches to Facilitate Epitope-Based HLA Matching in Solid Organ Transplantation

J Immunol Res. 2017:2017:9130879. doi: 10.1155/2017/9130879. Epub 2017 Feb 12.

Abstract

Epitope-based HLA matching has been emerged over the last few years as an improved method for HLA matching in solid organ transplantation. The epitope-based matching concept has been incorporated in both the PIRCHE-II and the HLAMatchmaker algorithm to find the most suitable donor for a recipient. For these algorithms, high-resolution HLA genotype data of both donor and recipient is required. Since high-resolution HLA genotype data is often not available, we developed a computational method which allows epitope-based HLA matching from serological split level HLA typing relying on HLA haplotype frequencies. To validate this method, we simulated a donor-recipient population for which PIRCHE-II and eplet values were calculated when using both high-resolution HLA genotype data and serological split level HLA typing. The majority of the serological split level HLA-determined ln(PIRCHE-II)/ln(eplet) values did not or only slightly deviate from the reference group of high-resolution HLA-determined ln(PIRCHE-II)/ln(eplet) values. This deviation was slightly increased when HLA-C or HLA-DQ was omitted from the input and was substantially decreased when using two-field resolution HLA genotype data of the recipient and serological split level HLA typing of the donor. Thus, our data suggest that our computational approach is a powerful tool to estimate PIRCHE-II/eplet values when high-resolution HLA genotype data is not available.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Computational Biology*
  • Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / genetics*
  • Gene Frequency*
  • Genotype*
  • HLA Antigens / genetics*
  • Histocompatibility Testing / methods*
  • Humans
  • Isoantibodies / metabolism
  • Organ Transplantation*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Software
  • Tissue Donors
  • Transplant Recipients
  • White People

Substances

  • Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte
  • HLA Antigens
  • Isoantibodies