[Evaluation of the immunomagnetic beads separation technique as a routine method for HLA typing]

We analyzed the HLA data of 1,427 patients and healthy blood donors from Hamburg and Hessen, to evaluate the reliability of the immunomagnetic beads method (IMB), compared to the standard NIH and the twocolor fluorescence (TCF) typing method. Concerning HLA class I, the IMB method and the NIH-method yielded almost identical results, whereas the determination of class II HLA-DR/DQ antigens required a higher rate of retyping (20%), compared the TCF method. Hence, the IMB method should not replace the standard typing procedures, particularly in organ-donor crossmatching, unless quality controls, e.g. of HLA-genotyped families have rendered unanimous results.