Central Building, 1st Floor, Room M1/300
4301 W. Markham St, Slot #502
Little Rock, AR 72205
Phone: (501)-686-7257
Fax: (501)-686-7443
Medical Director: Terry O. Harville, MD, PhD
Manager: Chuck Swanson, MS, CG(ASCP)
Supervisor: Bobbie Rhodes-Clark, MS, CHT, CHS (ABHI)
Hours of Operation:
Laboratory Hours: 6:00 a.m. – 12:00 a.m., M-F
On Call Services available 24 hours, 7 days a week
The HLA laboratory provides specialized histocompatibility testing for patients undergoing organ transplantation, bone marrow transplantation, platelet transfusion support, and disease study association testing. The HLA laboratory is an American Society of Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics (ASHI) accredited laboratory.
HLA Specimen Collection Requirements
Available Tests
- HLA Class I (ABC) Typing
Specimen Requirements: 10 ml ACD tube or spleen/lymph node
HLA Class I (ABC) typing is performed by low-resolution reverse sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes (RSSO). This test can be performed using anticoagulated peripheral blood, lymph nodes or spleen.
- HLA Class II (DR/DQ/345) Typing
Specimen Requirements: 10 ml ACD tube or spleen/lymph node
HLA Class II (DR/DQ/345) typing is performed by low resolution reverse sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes (RSSO). This test can be performed using anticoagulated peripheral blood, lymph nodes or spleen.
- High Resolution HLA Class I (ABC) Typing
Specimen Requirements: 10 ml ACD tube or buccal swab
High Resolution HLA Class I (ABC) typing is performed by sequence-specific primer (SSP) amplification. This test is used for listing of bone marrow patients on the NMDP list or for allo-transplantation.
- High Resolution HLA Class II (DRB1/DQB1/BRD345) Typing
Specimen Requirements: 10ml ACD tube or buccal swab
High Resolution HLA Class II (DRB1/DQB1/DRB345) typing is performed be sequence-specific primer (SSP) amplification. This test is used for listing of bone marrow patients on the NMDP list or for allo-transplantation.
- HLA B27 Typing
Specimen Requirements: 10 ml ACD tube
HLA B27 is performed by low-resolution reverse sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes (RSSO) to determine the presence or absence of the antigen. HLA B27 is used for disease association phenotyping for diagnosis of spondyloarthropathies.
- HLA B*57:01 Typing
Specimen Requirements: 10 ml ACD tube
HLA B*57:01 is performed by low-resolution reverse sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes (RSSO) to determine the presence or absence of this allele. HLA B*57:01 is associated with increased risk for hypersensitivity to Abacavir.
- Single Antigen Testing (PRA) – Antibody Identification
Specimen Requirements: 10 ml Red top tube
Patient serum is screened against an array of microbeads coated with purified HLA antigens. Antibodies that bind to the microbeads are labeled and detected using a fluorescent PE-conjugated anti-hum IgG secondary antibody. LABScreen assays are used to determine Class I and Class II HLA antibody specificity. This test is also used to determine MFI values of donor specific antibodies (DSA).
- Flow Crossmatch
Specimen Requirements:
Recipient (Patient): 10 ml Red top tube & 10 ml ACD tube
Donor: 20 ml ACD tube
Patient serum is crossmatched with donor lymphocytes to detect donor specific antibodies in the patient serum. Patient serum can also be crossmatched against the patient’s lymphocytes to detect autoantibodies (Auto crossmatch). Antibody binding is visualized thorugh fluorescent-labeled secondary antibodies using the flow cytometer.
- Platelet Crossmatch
Specimen Requirements: 10ml Red top tube & apheresis platelet unit
Platelet crossmatch is performed for patients requiring HLA matched platelets. The aphresed platelets are crossmatched with patient serum to detect HLA donor specific antibody binding. Antibody binding is visualized through fluorescent-labeled secondary antibodies using the flow cytometer.