A Review of Laboratory Practices Using the HLA-B27 Survey by the College of American Pathologists: How Important Is Allele-Level Typing?

Context.—: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is an autoimmune disorder with a strong genetic risk, especially with HLA-B27. Clinical testing for HLA-B27 has been used to help diagnose patients with signs and symptoms of AS. Testing methods used by clinical laboratories for HLA-B27 fall into the broad categories of serologic/antibody- or molecular-based methods and have evolved over time. The College of American Pathologists (CAP) offers a proficiency testing survey for HLA-B27.

Objective.—: To analyze HLA-B27 testing trends and their performance in the past decade, using the proficiency testing survey data submitted to CAP.

Design.—: We analyzed the HLA-B27 CAP proficiency testing data from 2010 to 2020 for the method used, participant concordance, and error rates. Results from case scenarios to understand evolving scientific data around HLA-B27 risk alleles were also analyzed.

Results.—: Antibody-based flow cytometry is the most common method, though it has decreased from 60% in 2010 to 52% in 2020, with a corresponding increase in molecular methods. Among the molecular methods, real-time polymerase chain reaction has increased from 2% to 15%. Flow cytometry had the highest error rate (5.33%), and sequence-specific oligonucleotide (0%) is the most accurate (0%). Results of case scenarios demonstrated that most participants understood that allele-level HLA-B27 typing results inform clinical interpretation, for example HLA-B*27:06 is not associated with AS.

Conclusions.—: These data demonstrated the changing trends for HLA-B27 testing during the past decade. HLA-B27 allelic typing provides a better understanding of AS association. This is possible by testing for the second field with methods like next-generation sequencing.