title: Effect of HLA-A and HLA-B matching on survival of grafts and recipients after renal transplantation.
abstract: Data on the effect of HLA-A and HLA-B matching between unrelated donors and recipients focus mainly on graft survival. After linking the follow-up data of the European Dialysis and Transplant Association and those of the Eurotransplant Foundation, the effect of HLA-A and HLA-B matching on recipient survival could be studied. Recipients of well-matched kidneys--i.e., without mismatches for the HLA-A and B antigens--had 51 per cent graft survival at five years, whereas recipients of grafts mismatched for four antigens had 32 per cent graft survival at five years. The overall P value between the five different mismatch classes was 0.0005. Patient survival at five years was 72 per cent in recipients of a kidney without HLA-A and B mismatches and 54 per cent in recipients of a completely mismatched donor kidney (overall, P = 0.001). These results suggest that matching for the HLA antigens has a beneficial long-term effect not only on renal-allograft survival but also on patient survival.
mesh_terms: D000206:Actuarial Analysis; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006085:Graft Survival; D006680:HLA Antigens; D015235:HLA-B Antigens; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D013997:Time Factors; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000401:mortality
chemical_list: D006680:HLA Antigens; D015235:HLA-B Antigens