Implementing a fully automated high‐throughput strategy for blood donor genotyping

Abstract

Background High-throughput molecular assays are essential tools for the search of rare blood donors.Aims and methods To evaluate a fully automated workflow designed for genotyping blood donors' red blood cell (RBC) and platelets (PTL) antigens using the OpenArray Real-time PCR system.Results 5487 blood donors were genotyped using the proposed strategy in two steps: (1) nucleic acid purification in the QIASymphony â equipment and (2) genotyping of the most important RBC and PTL antigens by a customized assay designed for the OpenArray Real-time PCR system. 142 662 single nucleotide polymorphisms were genotyped with 99Á6% of accuracy in 15 work-days. Software was created for the purpose of data interfacing and organization of a database to be used in a regular basis to find compatible blood for alloimmunized patients. ConclusionsThe proposed fully automated genotyping strategy is accurate, fast and suitable for meeting the needs of a laboratory of molecular immunohematology.