Sequence-Specific Primed PCR (PCR-SSP) Typing of HLA Class I and Class II Alleles

For donor selection in hematopoetic stem cell transplantation, two-digit sequence-specific oligonucleotide (SSO) typing may be sufficient in the related sibling transplant setting. However, SSO typing is not sensitive enough to differentiate between the alleles that share the same cis-trans linkeage sequence casettes. In unrelated donor selection, PCR using sequence-specific primers, a flexible and widely used method known to cause less ambiguious results, may be preferable. However, this technique is limited by the number of the samples that can be processed at one time and also by the number of the primer mixes that can be utilized.