Pathology and laboratory medicine

HLA and Immunogenetics Laboratory services

The HLA and Immunogenetics Laboratory was established in 2001 to perform DNA-based tissue typing for the Stem Cell Transplant Program at Children's Memorial Hospital. We have developed a proprietary, streamlined approach to high resolution testing that enables us to quickly and accurately report allele-level results.

Definitions of “g” designations on the hospital's HLA reports

In addition, we routinely resolve all clinically relevant allele ambiguities, which enables our transplant search coordinators to more accurately match transplant recipients with their potential donors. As a result, we are now serving several medical centers as well as international registries.

Services

The HLA laboratory employs the latest in cutting-edge technology and software to produce highly accurate, reliable results for clinicians.

Although DNA sequence-based tissue typing and donor engraftment studies are our specialty, we offer a full range of services for hematopoietic and solid organ transplants as well as disease-associated HLA typing.

HLA low-resolution typing by PCR-SSOP:
HLA-A, B, C, DRB1, DQA1, DQB1
HLA high-resolution typing by SBT:
HLA-A, B, C, DRB1, DQB1
Disease-associated HLA typing:
B27, B5701, DQ2, DQ8 et al
Chimerism analysis by STR
HLA antibody screen and specificity by flow cytometry

Laboratory Accreditation

We resolve all clinically significant (or relevant) allele ambiguities, which enables our transplant search coordinators to more accurately match transplant recipients with their potential donors.

The HLA and Immunogenetics Laboratory meets or exceeds all quality standards set by the industry, and is accredited, registered or licensed by the following organizations to perform high-complexity testing:

American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI)
Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act of 1988 (CLIA)
National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)
United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)

Ordering

DNA-typing can be performed on peripheral blood, bone marrow , cord blood, or buccal brushes. For your convenience, a special collection kit with instructions can be sent directly to recipients or donors.