Validation of the Spanish Calculator PATHI with great utility in programs of renal transplantation

HLA antigen panel reactive panel calculators allow the possibility of finding a compatible donor in highly sensitized patients on waiting list. These patients spend prolonged periods of time on the compatible donor waiting list. The design of these calculators, together with the optimization of the study of the anti-HLA antibody profile with the new solid-phase assays, has allowed the implantation of live donor kidney transplantation programs in complex, incompatible and highly sensitized ABO patients, such as cross-donation program or access program for highly sensitized patients (PATHI), which coordinates the National Transplant Organization (ONT) in Spain. Due to the difference in antigenic frequencies of HLA in the different populations, the implementation of PATHI in our country forced the realization of a calculator with the HLA typing of 250 national donors.

The group of Transplantation and Autoimmunity of IDIVAL and Marques de Valdecilla University Hospital, in collaboration with the Immunology Service of the University Hospital of Albacete, recently published in Frontiers Inmunology the work of validation of the Spanish calculator (PATHI), and compare it with Eurotransplant, United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and Canadian Transplant Registry (CTR) with a larger number of donors.

The model of the PATHI calculator with a small population makes it attractive so that it can be implemented in developing countries in a cost-effective way. In addition, since it is a tool promoted in the PATHI program in Spain, a reference country in the field of organ transplantation, it gives more relevance to this work.

Reference: Asensio E, López-Hoyos M, Romón Í, Ontañón J, San Segundo D. Assessment of Spanish Panel Reactive Antibody Calculator and Potential Usefulness. Front Immunol. 2017 May 11;8:540. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.00540.