HLA-DNA ANALYSIS IN CORNEAL TRANSPLANTATION

1994 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 05671478
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Ophthalmology
• Research Institution: TOKYO DENTAL COLLEGE
• Principal Investigator: SHIMAZAKI Jun Tokyo Dental College, Dept of Ophthalmology, 市川総合病院・眼科, 講師 (40170930)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): TSUJI Kimiyoshi Tokai University, Department of Transplantations, 医学部・移植学教室, 教授 (30055834) ; TSUBOTA Kazuo Tokyo Dental College, Department of Ophthalmology, 市川総合病院・眼科, 助教授 (40163878)
• Project Period (FY): 1993 – 1994
• Keywords: CORNEAL TRANSPLANTATION / HLA CLASS II ANTIGENS / PCR / REJECTION

Research Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of histocompatibility complex (HLA) matching on corneal transplantation. Restriction fragment length polymorphism method with polymerase chain reaction (RFLP-PCR) was used to analyze the HLA class II antigens (HLA-DRB1, -DPB1, DQB1).
In the first part of the study, we examined various ocular tissues to determine feasibility of these tissues for HLA analysis. We found that DNAs could be extracted and amplified from all ocular tissues except crystalline lens and vitreous. We then analyzed HLA typings in donor and recipient corneas using the technique, and studied the effects of HLA matching on the graft survival retrospectively. Donor-sclero-corneal tissues and excised central recipient corneas were used as materials. Fifty-four pairs of donor-recipient corneas have been analyzed including 29'high-risk' cases. High-risk for rejection was determined if previous corneal transplantation had been performed and/or corneal neovascularization in more than 2 quadrants was present. As a result, no correlation was found between the development of immunological rejection and either HLA-DR or-DP matchings. There was significant correlation between the development of rejection and HLA-DQ antigen matching in high risk cases (P<0.05), but not in the non-high risk cases. In the high risk cases, there were 11 rejection episodes in 19 cases (57.9%) with no DQB1 matchings, whereas only one case (10%) with 1 or 2 DQB1 matchings developed rejection. We are currently performing HLA-A antigen typing in these cases. This additional analysis may give us another new finding regarding the effect of HLA matching in corneal transplantation.