ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Alloimmunity and Transplantation
Analysis of HLA genotype in the recipients' different tissues after haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
Provisionally accepted
- Shenzhen Blood Center, Shenzhen, China
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Introduction: Peripheral blood samples are widely used in HLA genotyping due to their easy accessibility and the high-quality DNA from nucleated leukocytes. However, in cases of disease relapse requiring a second transplantation, clinicians encounter significant challenges in performing HLA genotyping and interpreting complex results from patients who have undergone haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (haplo-HSCT). Furthermore, systematic studies investigating the impact of haplo-HSCT on recipients' HLA genotypes across different tissues remain scarce. Therefore, this study aims to analyze HLA genotypes in various tissues of the recipient after haplo-HSCT. Methods: A total of 66 patients who received haplo-HSCT were enrolled, with peripheral blood, buccal swab and saliva samples collected for HLA genotyping. The results were compared with pre-HSCT HLA genotypes of the patients and their respective donors. Results: The majority of peripheral blood samples (55/57) exhibited the donor's HLA genotype, whereas most buccal swabs (54/62) retained the patient's pre-HSCT genotype. Among 20 salivary samples, 45% of patients retained their pre-HSCT genotype, while 30% exhibited the donor's genotype. Notably, chimerism and HLA loss were detected in buccal swab and saliva cells of certain recipients. More strikingly, one patient's buccal sample displayed complete donor HLA genotype replacement. Conclusion: These findings enhance our comprehension of the genetic effects
Keywords: Buccal swab, Chimerism, haplo-HSCT, HLA, Loss of Heterozygosity, Peripheral Blood, Saliva
Received: 15 Oct 2025; Accepted: 06 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Liu, Yang, Quan, Zhang, Song, Deng and Zou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jie Liu
Hong-Yan Zou
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