HLA Typing by Direct DNA Sequencing

Sequencing-based typing is a high resolution method for the identification of HLA polymorphisms. The majority of HLA Class I alleles can be discriminated by their exon 2 and 3 sequence, and for Class II alleles, exon 2 is generally sufficient. There are polymorphic positions in other exons which may require additional sequencing to exclude certain alleles with differences outside exon 2 and 3, depending on the clinical requirement and relevant accredition guidelines. The process involves selective amplification of target alleles by PCR, agarose gel electrophoresis of the PCR products to assess the quantity and quality, followed by purification of PCR amplicons to remove excess primer and dNTPs. Cycle sequencing reactions using Applied Biosystems™ BigDye^� Terminator Ready Reaction v1.1 or v3.1 Kit are performed, then purification of sequence reactions before electrophoresing using Applied Biosystems™ 3730 or 3730XL Genetic Analyser (or similar). Data is processed by specialised software packages, which compare the sample sequence to the sequences of all possible theoretical allele combinations to assign an accurate genotype. Examination of all nucleotides, both at conserved and polymorphic positions enables the direct identification of new alleles, which may not be possible with techniques such as SSP and SSO typing.