[Development of a web-based program for the identification of human leukocyte antigen antibody specificities].
BACKGROUND
Panel reactive antibody (PRA) test is used to determine whether a patient awaiting transplantation is previously sensitized. Tail analysis algorithm is widely used to identify antibody specificities, but it is very difficult to perform manually.


METHODS
To develop a web-based program, PHP (5.1.2), Apache (2.0.55), and MySQL (5.0.22) were used. Tail analysis algorithm was applied to identify specificities, which analyzed statistically 2 x 2 tables representing reactivities to broad antigens, splits and cross reactive groups (CREG). Exploiting two CREG classifications of Rodey (R) and Takemoto (T), antibody specificities were identified by 3 methods (ABC, R-ABC, T-ABC) simultaneously. Performance of the system was evaluated using 159 samples that showed > or =6 PRA% by a lymphocytotoxicity assay.


RESULTS
A web-based system that can identify HLA antibody specificities was implemented on www.koreanhla.com. Among 159 samples tested, antibody specificities were identified in 151 (95.0 %), but not in 8 samples with PRA >97%. Among the 151 samples, 110 showed broad or split specificities and 41 CREG specificities.


CONCLUSIONS
We developed a web-based computer program for the identification of HLA antibody specificities. Accessible to everyone on the internet, this program should be of help in sharing PRA results among laboratories.
Cha
Choong-Hwan
CH
Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine and Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
Oh
Heung-Bum
HB
Kim
Myeong Hee
MH
Chae
Jeong-Min
JM
Jung
Soon Young
SY
D000465:Algorithms; D000918:Antibody Specificity / Q000235:genetics; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D012984:Software
D006680:HLA Antigens