Abstract
HLA matching in kidney transplantation is a major factor in long term survival of the graft. In Saudi Arabia, the majority of deceased donors (DD) are non-Saudi, making it difficult to achieve minimal HLA mismatches between the donor and the recipient. The aim of this study was to analyze HLA types of 200 DD and compare it with that of the Saudi population.
This is a retrospective study analyzing HLA types of the last 200 deceased donors processed at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh. Results of the HLA types of all donors were compared with HLA types form our control panel of healthy Saudi cohort.
HLA types were significantly different between the deceased donor group and the Saudi cohort. In all deceased donors, we never achieved a recipient who is 6/6 HLA zero mismatches. The major differences in HLA types were in HLA-A∗02 (14% in DD vs 30% in Saudi controls), B∗15 (16% in DD vs 5% in Saudi controls), B∗40 (9% in DD vs 2% in Saudi controls), B∗50 (4% in DD vs 19% in Saudi controls), DRB1∗14 (5% in DD vs 1% in Saudi controls), DRB1∗15 (21% in DD vs 13% in Saudi controls) and in DRB1∗04 (10% in DD vs 19% in Saudi controls).
As most of our DD are non-Saudis this makes it difficult to match for HLA-A, B and DR. HLA-DR matching should be attempted nationwide by adopting different strategies including typing donors centrally and distributing results to all centers, agreeing on a national point system for allocating DD organs.