HLA class II DNA-RFLP typing in 102 individuals from Northern Greece

The serological identification of HLA class II alleles is often doubtful. Since accurate HLA typing is essential for the matching of donor-recipient pairs in allogeneic transplantation, an effort was made to establish DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) typing and to assess the correlation between the serological and RFLP techniques in the population of Northern Greece. One hundred and two healthy individuals (204 HLA-DR alleles) from Northern Greece were HLA-DR, DQ typed with both the microcytotoxicity and the Taq I RFLP method, using three exon-specific probes. DNA-RFLP typing revealed (1) concordant results with serology in 69.9% (142/204) of the alleles and (2) at least one HLA-DR allele discrepant to serology in 30.4% (62/204) of the alleles. Incorrect serological DR types (weak reactions or inability to distinguish between two alleles with a common epitope) were identified in 54 alleles (26.5%), while 3.9% (8/204) of serological "blank" alleles turned out to be definable alleles by RFPL. Of the individuals tested, 10.8% (11/102) were DR-homozygous by RFLP. This comparison of results obtained by serology and RFLP demonstrated the necessity of the clinical application of DNA typing, especially for organ transplantation where accurate HLA typing has an important influence on graft survival.