A study of corneal transplantation and human leukocyte antigen matching

OBJECTIVE: The effect of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching on immune rejection after keratoplasty was studied. METHODS: Immunoserologic HLA typing was performed on thirty-three eyes with corneal vascularization of 33 high-risk patients before keratoplasty, and HLA matching was made before the surgery. The donor corneas used for these cases were selected on the basis of obtaining a negative HLA cross-match test and matched ABO antigen compatibility of blood group before surgery. The mean follow-up was fifteen months. RESULTS: The findings suggested that there should be highly statistic significance (t = 7.36, P < 0.01) between the rate of rejection of well matched group and that of the poorly matched one. There was no correlation between the number of HLA antigen matched and the rejection rate (t = 0.917, P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Lower incidence of corneal graft failure from allograft rejection occurs when well HLA matching is used for selecting donor in high-risk patients with corneal vascularization.