HLA‐B allele dropout in PCR sequence‐specific oligonucleotide probe typing due to intronic polymorphism in the novel B*58:01:01:02 allele

Summary Currently, Luminex technology based on the PCR sequence‐specific oligonucleotide (SSO) probe method has been widely used for HLA genotyping in the immunogenetics laboratories. Here, we reported a case with HLA‐B allele dropout by Luminex technology. The initial HLA‐B result of the Luminex method with a commercial agent kit was inconclusive, and then, the result of PCR‐SBT technology indicated the dropout as a HLA‐B*58 allele. Subsequently, the full‐length sequence of HLA‐B allele was determined by TOPO‐TA cloning, and a novel allele B*58:01:01:02 was identified in the individual. Compared with HLA‐B*58:01:01:01, the novel allele showed some nucleotides difference at 509 C>T, 521 T>G and CCC insertion in position 503 of intron 2. According to the full‐length sequence, the new mutations of intron 2 were contributed to HLA‐B locus allele dropout in the sample. Our results indicated multiplatform should be used to improve the HLA typing accuracy when a conclusive HLA genotype cannot be determined.