IMGT/HLA Database

Search Determinants

Updated 12-January-2007 based on release 2.14.1

Registries and cord blood banks around the world collect and store the HLA types of volunteers in order to identify matched unrelated donors for patients requiring haemopoietic stem cell transplantation. The HLA assignments of volunteers are received in many formats depending on 1) whether the types were obtained by serology or by DNA-based methods and 2) the panel of reagents used in the assay which determines the resolution of the test results (high vs. intermediate vs. low resolution). Registries must take these diverse assignments and identify which of them is most likely to actually match the HLA assignments of a searching patient. This comparison is usually facilitated by the conversion of assignments to "search determinants" before matching algorithms are performed. Joint project of the National Marrow Donor Program, the World Marrow Donor Association and NETCORD. Further discussion of search determinants and their use can be found:

• Hurley CK, et. al.
  Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donor Registry Strategies For Assigning Search Determinants And Matching Relationships
  Bone Marrow Transplantation (2004) 33:443-50
  
  The Full Text of the article is available from the Nature Publishing Group or you can download the PDF File.

How To Search

The search tool can be used to search for an allele, an expert assigned type of a WHO assigned type.

• To search for an entry for an allele name enter either the locus or the locus and up to four digits. (i.e.; A, A*01, A*0101)
• To search for a potential Search Determinant or WHO assigned serological type (i.e. A1, A2, A32), broad classifications will automatically be expanded (i.e. A28 will retrieve A68 and A69).

The search tool will then retrieve all relevant hits.

Search Strategies

The following links list how search determinants are assigned to each HLA allele by the different registries;

• Anthony Nolan Trust
• National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)
• Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide (BMDW)
• Canadian Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry
• France Greffe de Moelle
• British Bone Marrow Registry (BBMR)

We also provide information on the Zentrales Knochenmarkspender-Register Deutschland (ZKRD) and their approach to search determinants.

Information

For more information about the database, IMGT/HLA queries (including website) or to subscribe to the IMGT/HLA mailing list please contact IMGT/HLA Support.