The Japanese Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (JSHI) has implemented a certification system for HLA technologists and histocompatibility directors to enhance and maintain their skills and knowledge in histocompatibility testing. The society holds an annual written examination for certification during its conference. Although practice examinations were cancelled in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they were held again in 2023, we returned to its approach of explaining low correct-response rate questions from the practice examination, and the society plans to continue this important opportunity.
The distribution of average scores has not significantly changed; however, this year’s trend of low-correct-response-rate questions differs from previous years, as they were dominated by basic HLA studies rather than conventional immunology, statistics, and ethics-fields questions. One reason for this is the increase in members with relatively little practical experience aspiring to obtain certification in the future. Another reason is the missed opportunities to learn about HLA studies and gather information by attending meetings during the Corona disaster. In the present time, I focus on the basics and describe seven typical HLA questions among the 19 difficult questions, explaining the intention of the questions and the key points to derive the correct answers.
膨大な数のHLA遺伝子型を判定するDNAタイピング(HLA-DNAタイピング)は,移植時の組織適合性の一致や自己免疫疾患などとの関連解析に欠かせない検査技術法である。現在,主流であるPCR-SSO法やPCR-SBT法に比べ,次世代シーケンサーを用いたHLA DNAタイピング法(NGS-HLA法)はより正確なアリル情報が得られ,HLA遺伝子全領域の新規多型や変異を効率よくかつ染色体ごとに分けて検出できるなどの利点を有する。本講習会では,次世代シーケンシングの基本的な仕組みから,次世代シーケンサーを用いたDNA-HLAタイピングの具体的な方法,さらに新しい知見についてなどを概説する。
我が国の臍帯血移植成績は著しく向上している。同種移植のあゆみと臍帯血移植の位置づけ,臍帯血バンクを介して臍帯血ユニットがどのように作成され患者さんに届けられるのか,また患者にとって最適な移植ユニットをどのように選択したらよいのかにつき具体的に記したい。