Polymerase Chain Reaction

Following the development of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) by Saiki (Science 230:1350, 1985), several DNA based procedures were developed for molecular HLA typing. This includes: Sequence Specific Oligo hybridization (SSOP) (Wordsworth, Immunol Lett 29:37, 1991) , PCR based Sequence Specific Primer technology or PCR-SSP (Olerup and Zetterquist, Tissue Antigens 39:225, 1992), PCR-Single Strand Conformation Polymorphisms or SSCP (Carrington et al., Hum Immunol 33:208, 1992), and Sequence Based Typing or SBT (Cereb et al., Tissue Antigens 45:1, 1995). These molecular methods have since replaced the serological methods for HLA typing in most clinical laboratories.