HLA genetic frequency in renal transplantation patients, dead by covid-19
Gustavo Piccinelli1, María Emilia ME Bianco1, María Belén MB Iarossi1, Pablo P Galarza1, María Soledad MS Paulos1, Andrea A Martinoia1, Silvina S Aleman1.
1Centro Provincial de Histocompatibilidad, Cucaiba, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Introduction: Are well known the HLA associations with diseases, i.e. ankylosing spondylitis with HLA B*27, and some virus and tumors capability to use some strategies for downregulate the HLA molecules expression and to scape the recognition from T lymphocytes. The intention of this work was to analyze probable genetic associations of the HLA Histocompatibility System in patients with a functioning kidney transplant who died of covid-19.
Method: 60 patients (360 genes) from the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a functioning kidney transplant for months/years, both genders, adults, from the CRAI Sur and CRAI Norte kidney transplant centers in CUCAIBA, who died of covid-19 (strain undetermined), and due to short-term complications of covid-19 that are public knowledge. The investigation of gene pairs (maternal and paternal inherited) of the HLA System was done by molecular biology SSP and SSO-Luminex, in low resolution, for HLA Class I: A* A* and B*B* and Class II: DRB1*DRB1* genes. For comparison with the healthy Argentine control population, by NGS molecular biology typing, data were obtained for the same genes and taken from high to low resolution, from 2657 people (15942 genes) from all over the country, also of both genders and adults. This data were obtained from the INCUCAI CPH Donor Registry, data that had already been previously presented at the 2014 congress in Buenos Aires and published in Transplantation Proceedings, 46, 3064-3067, in 2014.
Results: We observed the following variations in the gene frequency of death patients respect to healthy population (Control): see table 1.
Additional data will be added to the final work.
Conclusion: The purpose of this work was to investigate whether any of the HLA genes mentioned, present in kidney transplant patients who died of covid-19, predisposed to the outcome of the disease, or whether genes not present in this population (whose frequency is observable in a healthy population), were able to protect the population of kidney transplant patients who did not die from covid-19, a population that will be analyzed in the future.
