Luminex-Based Donor-Specific antibody crossmatching for renal transplant: A 3-Year experience in South India

Introduction: Although CDC has been the gold standard for many years, this assay is certainly not perfect and its use is associated with several problems. The Luminex anti-HLA antibody detection assay is reportedly more sensitive and specific. One of the test is Luminex DSA cross match which is more sensitive than CDC cross match. It is also considered cost effective tool to evaluate pre and post renal transplant cases. Material and Methods: We started Luminex based Donor specific antibody Cross Match tests (DSA Xm) with lysate by the end of 2009 along with CDC after standardization. This study is planned to evaluate the results of DSA Xm of last three years & also to observe antibody medicated rejections after renal transplant. Results: Total 3137 Luminex DSA Cross Match tests were done & 515 tests were positive cross match with negative CDC xm result. Out of 515 positive results 164 were positive for class I, 223 were positive for class II and 128 were positive for both class I & II. In the three years total 1129 renal transplants were done at various centers and total 42 cases of Antibody medicated rejections were reported. Out of 42 patients, 36 patients had pre transplant history of CDC negative & Luminex DSA xm positive. Conclusion: We evaluated our three year results of DSA Xm test and found a cost effective, sensitive and useful supplementary test to evaluate pre and post renal transplant cases