Join us in Boulder, Colorado from October 15 - 18, 2014 for the 11th International Summer School on Immunogenetics. Click here for more information.

Once again we have the opportunity to comment on OPTN/UNOS proposals. This time, the proposals that are most likely to affect our laboratories are Kidney Paired Donation (KPD) Histocompatibility Testing Policies and Expanding Candidate and Deceased Donor HLA Typing Requirements to Provide Greater Consistency across Organ Types. The proposed policies are numbers 1 and 7 on this page. We urge you to take a close look at these proposals and comment on them. 

In particular, on page 2 of the pdf of the Expanding Candidate and Deceased Donor HLA Typing Requirements to Provide Greater Consistency across Organ Types proposal, the OPTN/UNOS Histocompatibility Committee has written the following specific request for comments:

This proposal includes a requirement for HLA-DQA and HLA-DPB to be reported on deceased donors (the timeframe for reporting varies based on organ type). The Histocompatibility Committee is requesting feedback on the following questions.

The ASHI National Clinical Affairs Committee and the Executive Board will be working together to write and submit an official ASHI response. As in the past, the ASHI response will be shared with you when it is completed.

Again, we urge you to take a close look at the proposals and comment on them. There are additional proposals open for public comment, as well, but they will have less impact on our laboratories. You are encouraged to read all of the proposals and comment on any for which you have an opinion. Remember, it is important for ASHI members to comment on these proposals because every comment, whether it comes from an individual or an organization, is counted equally.

The deadline for submission of comments is June 13, 2014. Thank you for your continuing support of ASHI and its mission.