Inside transplant immunology.

The two-step matching process When an organ offer is made, a second cascade of screening events occurs. LifeLink Transplantation Immunology Laboratory in Tampa, FL, performs real-time nucleic-acid testing (NAT), which allows for the detection of HIV, West Nile virus, and hepatitis B genetic material. NAT is a more stringent protocol than simply testing the body’s response to an infectious disease (e.g., antibodies); and though not yet widely used throughout the country, it results in safer transplants for LifeLink patients. LifeLink’s immunology lab then performs crossmatching in two steps: virtual and final. The virtual crossmatch compares antibody specificity of patients to the HLA antigens of a given donor. This process predicts the results of the actual final crossmatch. LifeLink’s virtual crossmatching enables the import of organs from other centers and has proven invaluable to heart and lung recipients, who would wait much longer for a locally donated organ as well as a negative crossmatch. During the final, quantitative crossmatching, relative risk for each patient is identified and assigned, and positive or negative reactions are determined true or false. The two-step process has allowed LifeLink to successfully transplant patients regardless Inside transplant immunology