The impact of transfused blood products on deceased donor HLA typing

Accurate deceased donor HLA typing assumes that the blood sample tested contains only DNA from the organ donor. Prior to procurement, many organ donors are transfused at least one unit of red blood cells (RBC). Non-organ donor DNA acquired from transfusions may result in incorrect and/or ambiguous HLA typing. To address this question, we investigated the impact of RBC transfusion on organ donor HLA typing by using different in vitro transfusion models: leukoreduced (LR) and non-LR RBCs. Various quantities of LR and non-LR RBCs were added to normal peripheral blood and HLA typing was performed by real time PCR. Our results show that HLA typing of deceased donors can be impacted dependent upon the type and quantity of transfused RBCs. Importantly, if LR RBCs are given, HLA typing is unlikely to be affected, precluding the need to delay typing and obtain an alternative source of donor DNA.