Immunology: What is HLA testing?

Immunology
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Immunology
Discussion 1
1 What is HLA testing?
HLA is an abbreviation for Human Leucocyte Antigen. Leucocytes are white blood cells; hence HLA helps in determining the compatibility of patients and donors in transplants involving bone marrow or cord blood. The compatibility can fall into three categories, which include autologous, iso, and allogenic. The crossmatching of the compatibility determines whether or not there is agglutination when the red blood cells of the donor come into contact with the serum of the recipient, who is the patient (Gebel & Bray, 2014). Transplant is only allowed when there is no mismatch.
When the blood of the donor and the recipient come into contact, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique determines whether there is the presence of anti-HLA antibodies produced. The success of the transplant process results when accurate identification of the unacceptable antibodies, which will cause a reaction and get analyzed (Gebel & Bray, 2014). When the donor is intolerable in the case of the production of the antibodies, they donate. Also, molecular HLA testing through PCR determines the similarity index between the stem cells donor and the recipient. As a result, a closer match signals the possibility of a successful transplant process.
2 What kinds of diseases are associated with needing transplants?
Leukemia disease, which attacks the white blood cells such as acute, chronic leukemia, requires a transplant to control the formation of defective blood cells. Patients with acute leukemia undergo a bone marrow transplant under the application of radiochemotherapy in high doses. Chemotherapy and full-body irradiation can result in long term relief from acute leukemia (Lee et al., 2017). Also, other diseases of the bone marrow, such as aplastic anemia, require transplant since red blood cells get formed in the short bone marrow such as the sternum, while red blood cells in the long bones line the ulna and radius
Inherited immune system disorders like Severe Combined Deficiency (SCID) require organ transplants due to the defense role played by the immune system in defense from disease-causing pathogens. As a result, when a patient has SCID, the immune system gets compromised; hence a person gets vulnerable to common diseases that the body naturally can fighting. Besides, hemoglobinopathies such as sickle cell disease require a transplant to stop deformed cells and replace them with normal cells.
3 Are any of them hereditary?
Several hereditary diseases require transplants to have a negative feedback mechanism so that normal body function gets restored. The disorders include Severe combined immune deficiency (SCID), Wiskott Aldrich Syndrome, an autoimmune disease that manifests at birth. The ailments are life-threatening hence the urgent need of a transplant to boost the immune system of the patients (Shearer et al., 2014). When the Wiskott Aldrich Syndrome becomes diagnosed at birth, there is a regimen of immune boosters administered to increase the survival rate of the infant whose immune system is naturally not fully developed.
Other hereditary diseases that require transplants include Sickle C...