They study mutations in genes that may affect the prognosis of transplant recipients.

One of the areas of greatest applicability for this type of genomic research is in transplantation, the report said. With this technique, you can closely visualize the genes that control donor-transplant recipient compatibility, as well as see finer details of human leukocyte antigen (HLA), a type of antigen made up of molecules that are found on the surface of almost all human tissue cells and in white blood cells. The research team’s description of three new HLA alleles using next-generation sequencing allows, in addition to improving the analysis, the identification of alleles by reading DNA sequences.

Scientists are constantly studying this type of gene to find differences or mutations that are key in predicting whether a transplant will be successful or not.

The research group is led by Alberto Torio, researcher in the Hematology and Hematotherapy group, together with immunologists Antonio Rodríguez and Laura Cabo, with the participation of Isabel Maria Mendez, Lourdes Antequera and Rafael Recio, technical staff of the Laboratory of Immunology, and under the supervision of Abelardo Caballero, head of the Department of Immunology .