Donor-specific anti-HLA antibodies by solid phase immunoassays: advantages and technical concerns

Abstract

The detection of donor-specific antibodies (DSAs) is a cornerstone in the immunological risk assessment prior to organ transplantation. The detection methods have developed rapidly during the last decade, and the evidence for clinical interpretation of results obtained by solid phase immunoassays (SPI) is slowly accumulating. Nevertheless, technical limitations and theoretical concerns still mean that “expert opinions” govern clinical decision-making when results of bead-based arrays are applied in immunological risk assessment prior to transplantation. This article underlines the prognostic value of SPI in the immunized recipient of an organ transplant while cautioning uncritical clinical interpretation of mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) as a quantitative parameter in organ transplantation based on documented as well as theoretical shortcomings of the method. The role of SPI-based detection of anti-HLA antibodies in clinical transplantation diagnostics is summarized and put into perspective of the Sensitization in Transplantation: Assessment of Risk (STAR) working group report 2017.

Keywords:

• Anti-HLA antibodies
• complement activation
• donor-specific antibodies
• epitope assignment
• immunoglobulin subclasses
• interference
• solid phase immunoassay

Declaration of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest.