Hyderabad: City hospitals that perform kidney transplantations use haplotype tests to verify the presence of biological relationships between donors and recipients instead of the more reliable DNA fingerprinting. The Telangana State Forensic Science Laboratory (TFSL) has not received DNA fingerprinting cases for the purpose of organ transplantation since 2005. The Centre for DNA fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) has received only one case from Telangana in 2015-16.
Mr Pandu, a DNA expert who works with the TFSL, says, “Hospitals have stopped referring cases for the establishment of a biological relationship by DNA testing for organ transplantation. DNA fingerprinting is a more authentic test whereas human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing is not as reliable. Hospitals are carrying out HLA tests in their own labs and producing reports. Those tests are used to determine histocompatibility, but only DNA fingerprinting provides conclusive evidence for the establishment of a biological relationship between a donor and a recipient.”
Scientists say that DNA fingerprinting should be made mandatory for all kidney transplantations. Experts say that maternal and paternal lineages can easily be proved or disproved by DNA fingerprinting, through the use of 15 to 20 proven markers. The CDFD has received 19 cases for DNA fingerprinting – 16 from Tamil Nadu, and one each from Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana state.
The Centre accepts requests for the verification of biological relationships if forwarded by judicial or law enforcement agencies, government civil surgeons, professors of government medical institutions, or their equivalent, or by Organ Transplantation Authorisation Committees constituted as per the Transplantation of Human Organs Act. It charges Rs 5,000 for a test. HLAs play an important role in the development of immune responses, which in turn determine the outcome of transplantations. The polymorphism of HLA’s poses a major barrier to transplantation, which is why HLA tests are used to determine histocompatibility prior to transplant surgeries.
