HLA-DR and DQ, Studied with Genomic Blotting, in Diabetic Families and Transplant Donor-Recipient Pairs

Abstract

The DNA-DNA hybridization technique was employed to investigate the possible role of HLA class II genes other than DR in clinical kidney and bone marrow transplantation. Using cDNA probes corresponding to the polymorphic DRβ, DQβ, and DQα chains (Wallin et al., this volume), we examined the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) in PvuII- or BamHI-digested genomic DNA in bone marrow and kidney transplant donor- recipient pairs, and in 14 diabetic families. The RFLP detected is adequate to type for DR and DQ specificities [1; Wallin et al., this issue]. The bone marrow transplant donor-recipient pairs examined are all serologically HLA-A, B, C, DR identical sibs. Among those patients with good clinical outcome it was not possible to detect any difference in RFLP between the donor and the recipient with either DRβ or DQβ probes. However, in one donor-recipient pair a 1.6-kb Pvu II fragment visualized with the DQβ probe was present in the recipient and absent in the donor.