Strategies for prenatal HLA typing for potential cord blood donor evaluation.

The reasons for prenatal HLA typing for potential cord blood stem cell donor evaluation are reviewed and the strategies for doing so are summarized. Cultured fetal cells are class I HLA typed by modified serological techniques. When indicated, the fetal cells are also class II HLA typed by one or another DNA typing method. The same procedures can be used for the prenatal identification of a potential donor for an affected fetus.