FAQ

Q: What is Tissue Typing?

A: It is a term used to describe a procedure by which histocompatibilty repertoire of transplant recipients and donors are defined.

Q: What is Histocompatibility?

A: Histocompatibility describes tissue compatibilty beteween individuals, determined by presence or absence of particular types of Human Leucocyte Antigens (HLA).

Q: What are HLAs?

A: HLAs are cell surface expressed glycoproteins involved in antigen presentation to the immune system. They are: HLA-A, -B, -C, -DR, -DQ and -DP

Q: What is antigen presentation?

A: Reporting of the presence of non-self (foreign) peptides (viral and/or bacterial) by antigen presenting cells to the immune system provoking an immune response.

Q: So how does all of the above relate to transplantation?

A: Histocompatibility, determined by HLA repertoire of recipients and donors, is central to transplantation. This especially true for Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (HCT) where besides graft rejection, graft versus host disease may influence the success of the treatment.

Q: What is graft rejection?

A: Graft or transplant rejection occurs when the recipient's immune system attacks transplanted tissue.

Q: What is graft versus host disease (GVHD)?

A:GVHD may occur following HCT and is a condition caused by an immune response against the host's tissue generated by transplanted immune cells.

Q: What methods are used in tissue typing?

A: Serology for phenotypic low resolution typing, PCR-SSO and PCR-SSP for low to medium resolution genotypic typing and SBT for high resolution genotypic typing. Cellular assays are used for crossmatching. Flow cytometry is used for antibody screening.

(work in progress below)

Q: What is low, mid and high resolution typing?

Q: What is PCR-SSO, PCR-SSP and SBT?

Q: What does generic typing mean?

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