P098 Characterization and quantitation of soluble HLA molecules in human plasma

Abstract: The identification of prognostic parameters for the clinical course of disease states is of considerable scientific and therapeutic relevance. Serum levels of soluble HLA (sHLA) class I molecules have been advocated at various occasions possessing such predictive potential. However, lack of quantitation of sHLA levels, unavailability of appropriate assay standards and small population sizes investigated have dominantly contributed to the inability to establish the physiological importance of the presence of sHLA in body fluids and to make accurate disease associations. In this work, we have redesigned the assay approach for sHLA class I detection and introduced optimized assay conditions including a sHLA standard of highest purity and structural integrity.