The probability of finding HLA identical or partially matched unrelated donors in the population of Vojvodina

Introduction. Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from unrelated donors are treatments of choice for patients lacking HLA identical siblings or family matched donors. Material and methods. Class I HLA typing was performed by using a standard micro-lymphocytotoxicyty test in 434 unrelated persons from Vojvodina, while, class II HLA typing was performed using a modified immunofluorescent technique. The estimated gene frequencies for the populations of Crete, Korea, China, Scotland, Romania, and North America, were used to calculate phenotype frequencies, the probability of finding HLA identical or partially (in 5/6 HLA antigens) matched unrelated donors, the number of donors necessary for research, as well as genetic distances between populations. Results. The probability of finding HLA identical or partially matched unrelated donors for patients from Vojvodina is higher in closely related populations with low genetic distances, such as populations of Crete, Romania and Scotland. Discussion. The probability of finding HLA identical or partially matched unrelated donors is in inverse proportion with the number of unrelated donors necessary for research with aim of finding at least one HLA compatible donor. Conclusion. The probability of finding compatible unrelated donors depends on the degree of HLA matching between the donor and recipient, HLA phenotype frequencies and the donor pool size. These methodology may have a wider usage, because it can be applied in calculating the probability of finding suitable genotypically matched donors, by using HLA allele frequencies defined by molecular techniques. .