About DR beta-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis in kidney transplantation in connection with a paediatric patient.

A retrospective analysis of the HLA-DR antigens was performed at the DR beta DNA locus by the means of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) in the case of a two-times kidney transplanted paediatric patient and in 16 adult kidney donor recipient pairs in order to prove the importance of DNA molecular analysis in those cases where the serological identification is poor. The child and her grafts (first from her mother, the second from a cadaver donor) carried the DRw6 antigen which serologically can very poorly be defined. According to DR serotyping before transplantation both the child and the cadaver kidney proved to be DR5, 6, while the DNA analysis revealed mismatches; the child possessed the two subtypes: 13b1 and 14a of the DRw6 antigen only and none of the DR5, the cadaver kidney proved to belong to the DR4 antigen group instead of DR5, and furthermore to a different subtype of the DRw6 (13a3) than the recipient. The DNA analysis of other 16 adult donor-recipient pairs also underlined the importance of the DR beta RFLP analysis in cases where the transplantation antigens could be poorly defined.