Entering Scheme 4A2 Results
Results for scheme 4A2 are to be submitted via our bespoke participant’s portal. If you are unable to submit any results using the portal, please feel free to contact us to discuss alternative ways of submission.
Participant's Portal
Scheme 4A2 Results Entry Guidelines
Enter the 2nd or 3rd field DNA HLA typing results for assessment, including any ambiguous alleles, relevant to your assessment level. Samples may be reported at the 4th field, however only 2nd/3rd field results will be assessed.
For typing to the 2nd field, HLA alleles should be assigned on the basis of differences in exons 2 and 3 for class I and exon 2 for class II, as a minimum requirement. Alleles with identical sequences over these exons which have not been excluded due to testing other areas of the gene should be reported. Cis/trans allele combinations can be recorded (when/if applicable) in the cis/trans ambiguity field. Record all other unresolved ambiguities within the results fields for assessment.
For typing to the 3rd field, HLA alleles should be assigned on the basis of any differences in the coding region as a minimum requirement, all ambiguities, including cis-trans ambiguities, should be resolved before reporting.
UPDATE: Ambiguity Statement 2023:
A recent review of result submissions for assessment at 3rd field within Scheme 4A2 by the NEQAS Steering Committee highlighted a number of issues.
Participants are reminded that if they chose to be assessed at 3rd field they must be able to distinguish all nucleotide substitutions in the coding region and all ambiguities should be resolved.
For example, reporting B*35:01:01/01:161 or B*44:02:01/470/479 will be assessed as unacceptable as all ambiguities have not been resolved.
For 3rd field reporting only, the cis/trans field will be taken into account during assessment and any ambiguities reported will be penalised.
The Scheme does have comments boxes where general comments can be noted.
Reporting Instructions
- Do NOT include the loci letter or ‘*’ (asterisk) in a result field, just a number e.g. ’01:02’, ’26:01:01’, ’07:01/02/03’
- Report heterozygous results in numerical order, with the lowest number in the first result box e.g. 01:01, 25:01 or 03:02, 29:01 or 04:07, 11:01
- Do NOT leave any fields blank (unless not registered for a particular locus).
- For homozygous results please repeat the type in both boxes, e.g. 01:01, 01:01 or 08:01, 08:01
- If reporting ambiguities use ‘/’ to separate alleles. Please do not use hyphens or ‘P’ or ‘G’ groups for groups of alleles. E.g. report 01:01/02/03/04 instead of 01:01-04, or 01:01:01/02/03 instead of 01:01:01-03.
- If registered for DRB3/4/5 assessment, the type should be reported in the relevant result field, and ‘N/A’ should be entered if not present.
- Results entered elsewhere (e.g. comments) are not included in assessment.
- Use the correct HLA genotype nomenclature for all loci e.g. B* ’15:01’ not ‘62’
- If you discover a potentially new allele, please report this as ‘NEW’ in the assessment field and add more specific information in the comments field
Technical issues/invalid results (e.g. control failures, quality issues) should be reported as ‘NT’ (Not tested). Reasons for not testing need to be reported on the final result entry page. ‘Not tested’ results will not be assessed.
HLA nomenclature
The IMGT/HLA database update (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ipd/imgt/hla/ambiguity/) from the January two years prior to the start of the Scheme will be taken as the ‘reference’ allele baseline for the entire year and participants are expected to report their findings in accord with this report as a minimum.
For any queries with reporting, please contact us.