#56-OR
HIGH RESOLUTION HLA TYPING FOR VACCINE AND AUTOIMMUNE STUDIES.
Runying Tian M.S 1, Steven Cate A.S 1, MaKenzie Jones B.S 1 and William Hildebrand Ph.D 1. 1 Microbiology and Immunology, University of Oklahoma Health Science Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA .
The class I and class II Human leukocyte antigens (HLA) mediate most, if not all, adaptive immune responses. Since each individual has a different combination of class I and class II HLA molecules inherited from her/his parents, the immune response to infection and vaccination differs respectfully from person to person. In addition, many autoimmune diseases, such as arthritis and diabetes, are associated with particular class I and/or class II molecules. Knowledge of a patients/populations HLA molecules therefore becomes a key element in vaccine design and uncovering autoimmune triggering mechanisms. HLA DNA sequence-based typing (SBT) represents a method that identifies all polymorphisms in a racially independent manner. Our laboratory pioneered and continues to employ a precision HLA SBT method for studies of bone marrow transplantation, vaccine development, and autoimmunity. The class I and II HLA SBT process is split into three steps 
PCR, DNA sequencing, 
data processing - and here we report on the evolution of these 3 steps during the high resolution SBT of more than 20,000 individuals in the last 8 years. We describe the migration of our method from a solid phase sequencing chemistry to a capillary DNA sequencer, we discuss the location of PCR and DNA sequencing primers, we compare SSP and RSCA methods for the resolution of ambiguities, we discuss the software packages available for data processing, and we describe the costs now associated with HLA SBT. The robust nature and cost-efficiency of HLA SBT supports the continued application for studies of disease resistance, vaccine design, and autoimmunity.