title: The experience of two European preimplantation genetic diagnosis centres on human leukocyte antigen typing.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Two European centres report on human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing of preimplantation embryos for haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation: 'UZ Brussel' in Brussels and 'Genoma' in Rome. Both centres have 6 years' experience with technical and clinical aspects of this type of genetic analysis on single blastomeres.
  
  
  METHODS
  Both centres apply a similar technique for preimplantation HLA typing using short tandem repeats linked to the HLA locus in multiplex PCR for haplotyping.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At present, a conclusive HLA diagnosis could be assured in 92.8% and 90.3% of the embryos at UZ Brussel and at Genoma, respectively. The implantation rates were 32.4% and 28.2%, respectively, and the birth rates per cycle were 9.4% and 18.6%, respectively. The HLA programme at UZ Brussel and at Genoma resulted in the birth of 9 babies and 3 successful HSC transplantations, and 42 babies and 7 successful HSC transplantations, respectively, so far.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Drastic embryo selection for preimplantation HLA typing (in theory 1/4 for HLA, 1/8 for HLA in combination with sexing for X-linked recessive diseases, 3/16 for HLA in combination with autosomal recessive disorders) resulted overall in the birth of 51 babies (15.9% live birth rate per started cycle) in two European centres.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Reproductive Medicine, UZ Brussel, Laarbeeklaan 101, 1090 Brussels, Belgium. hilde.vandevelde@uzbrussel.be
authors.forename: Hilde
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Van de Velde
authors.forename: Martine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Rycke
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Man
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: De Hauwere
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fiorentino
authors.forename: Semra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kahraman
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pennings
authors.forename: Willem
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Verpoest
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Devroey
authors.forename: Inge
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Liebaers
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D001530:Belgium; D005260:Female; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006239:Haplotypes; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008423:Maternal Age; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D019836:Preimplantation Diagnosis / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers