Presence of antibodies against HLA class I and class II molecules in children before and after allo-HSCT. Alloantibodies before and after HSCT.

A severe complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is graft failure (GF). Among others, donor-specific anti-HLA antibodies (DSA) are associated with graft rejection after allogeneic or haploidentical transplantation in adults. Knowledge of DSA and pediatric recipients is limited. Hence, we aimed to generate more information about the presence of DSA (pre- and post-HSCT) and the clinical outcomes (graft rejection and poor function) in children. We identified DSA in 27% of the patients. We observed a higher frequency (50%) of DSA-bearing patients with a benign disease diagnosis than those diagnosed with leukemia (16.66%). We observed graft rejection in one patient (with DSA against two alleles of HLA class I molecules) and poor function in three recipients during the first 30 days after HSCT in the absence of DSA. The presence of donor and nondonor HLA-specific antibodies decreased substantially after transplantation. After the transplant, we identified two patients with DSA specific for HLA class I molecules (independent of clinical relevance), and four recipients showed PGF in the absence of DSA. We were unable to establish any association between the presence of DSA and a clinical outcome: graft failure or prevalence of viral infection.