HLA-Epi

HLA-Epi computes epitopic compatibility between donor and recipient Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) genotypes to quantify epitopic mismatch load for transplantation immunology.

Key Features:

• Epitope-Level Analysis: Analyzes HLA genotypes at the epitopic level using the Epregistry (international HLA epitope registry) for epitope definitions.
• Extensive Database Coverage: Covers 2,976 HLA alleles, representing over 99% of the observed global HLA allele frequency.
• Mismatch Load Calculation: Calculates epitopic mismatch load between recipient-donor pairs at various resolution levels to assess compatibility beyond allele-level matching.

Scientific Applications:

• Transplantation Research: Supports epitope-specific matching analyses to study epitope roles in immune response regulation and anti-HLA antibody targeting in transplantation.
• Cohort Analysis: Applied to a cohort of over 10,000 kidney transplanted pairs from European ancestry, reporting an average of 56.9 epitopic mismatches per pair.

Methodology:

Uses the Epregistry database (international HLA epitope registry) as the reference for epitope information and determines both epitopic and allelic compatibility to compute epitopic mismatch loads.