Virtual Crossmatch in Kidney Transplantation

• Published in: Transplantation proceedings 2014-09, Vol.46 (7), p.2195-2198
• Main Authors: Piazza, A, Ozzella, G, Poggi, E, Caputo, D, Manfreda, A, Adorno, D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibodies - analysis; Donor Selection; Female; Flow Cytometry; Histocompatibility Testing - methods; HLA Antigens - immunology; Humans; Italy; Kidney Transplantation; Male; Middle Aged; Retrospective Studies; Surgery
• ISSN: 0041-1345; 1873-2623
• DOI: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2014.07.053

Abstract Background The Luminex Single-Antigen Beads (LSA) assay allows an accurate detection and characterization of preexisting donor-specific antibodies (DSA) in kidney transplant candidates. But the ability of LSA to detect quite low levels of antibodies makes it hard to correctly predict crossmatch results in donor selection. In this study we retrospectively analyzed the accuracy of our virtual crossmatch (v-XM) protocol, which was used for selection of potential kidney transplant recipients, in predicting the results of actual crossmatch (a-XM) in cadaver-donor renal transplantation. We also investigated correlation between negative a-XM results and strength/specificity of preformed DSA. Methods The correlation between negative v-XMs and a-XMs performed in 2007–2012 at the Regional Transplant Center of the Lazio Region, Italy, was analyzed. In carrying out v-XM, the donor HLA molecules against which patients showed LSA-detected DSA with normalized mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) ≥5,000 were considered to be “unacceptable DSA,” and LSA-DSA showing MFI