Do FY Antigens Act As Minor Histocompatibility Antigens in the Graft-Versus-Host Disease Paradigm After Human Leukocyte Antigen - Identical Sibling Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation?

Abstract

FY antigens are candidate minor histocompatibility antigens relevant to renal allograft rejection, but no data have been reported about their role in graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) incidence after human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-identical siblings hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The aim of this study was to examine the effect of donor/recipient disparity at FY antigens on the incidence of GVHD in Tunisian patients receiving an HLA-identical HSCT. This work enrolled 105 Tunisian pairs of recipients and their HLA-identical sibling donors of HSCs. FY genotyping was performed with the polymerase chain reaction–sequence-specific primer method and donor/recipient disparity for these antigens was analyzed at two levels: incompatibility and nonidentity. The case–control analyses showed no significant correlation between FY disparity and the incidence of either acute or chronic GVHD. Sample size calculation showed that 572 cases and 1716 controls would be necessary to be able to detect a significant association with 80% power and two-sided type I error level of 5% (α=0.05). The lack of association in the studied cohort may be explained by the low immunogenicity of FY antigens in HSCT context, compared with other antigens such as HA-1 and CD31.