Laboratory of Tissue Immunology – Medical Centre at HIIET PAS

Laboratory of Tissue Immunology was founded in 1971 by prof. Henryk Matej who was the first in Poland to perform human leucocyte antigen (HLA) typing. In 1992-2014, the Laboratory was headed by dr Beata Nowakowska, who continued histocompatibility testing for recipients and donors of bone marrow and kidney transplantations. Prof. Katarzyna Bogunia-Kubik has been heading the Laboratory since 2014. Ever since 1977, the Laboratory has been working with Regional Transplantation Centres, dialysis stations, as well as with the State Organ Transplant Waiting List, as part of cooperation with Poltransplant. It also performs testing for the Limb Replantation, Microsurgery, and Hand Surgery Hospital Division in Trzebnica, as well as cross-matching for the Department of Thoracic Diseases in Szczecin (lung transplants) and Centre for Heart Diseases in Zabrze (heart transplants). Since 1990, the Laboratory has been commercially testing patients for genetic predisposition for autoimmune diseases (including: rheumatic diseases, uveitis, recurrent iritis, psoriatic arthritis, type 1 psoriasis, coeliac disease). Additionally, it has been typing HLA, KIR receptor, and anti-HLA antibody levels to assist in diagnosis of infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss. Since 2005, the Laboratory has been operating as part of the Medical Centre at HIIET PAS. It is registered in KIDL (registration number: 2454), and has received accreditation from the European Federation for Immunogenetics in 2018.

Laboratory Head

Head: prof. dr hab. Katarzyna Bogunia-Kubik – Head of the Laboratory of Tissue Immunology (LIT) – Medical Centre at HIIET PAS, laboratory diagnostician (bio-medical analysts), laboratory medical immunology specialist, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9744-0376

In 1990s, Prof. Bogunia-Kubik was working on and implementing human leucocyte antigen (HLA) typing techniques based on analysis of polymorphic DNA sequences. She has been organizing the HLA Proficiency Testing for Central and East Europe since 1999. She organizes courses for bio-medical analysts/diagnosticians specializing in laboratory medical immunology and medical immunology diagnostics, delivers lectures during courses and trainings for laboratory diagnosticians and medical doctors, and supervises specialization. She has been repeatedly appointed a member of the laboratory medical immunology State Examination Board since 2011. She is a member of the European Board of Transplant Immunology of the Division of Transplantation since 2015. In 2016, she has been awarded with the Qualification in Transplantation Immunology, European Specialization in Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics – ESHI Honorary Diploma. Since 2017, she has been taking part in the work of the EFI External Proficiency Testing Committee.

Team
  • mgr Małgorzata Kamińska – bio-medical analyst
  • mgr Wanda Niepiekło-Miniewska – bio-medical analyst
  • mgr Anna Szczygielska – bio-medical analyst
  • Anna Kornatowska – technician
  • mgr Izabela Kosman – technician
Most important scientific achievements
  • The Laboratory participates in international transplantation immunology testing standardization and has received certificates for: HLA typing, cross-matching, assessment and identification of anti-HLA antibodies
  • It is the first organ transplantation laboratory in Poland to receive European Federation for Immunogenetics accreditation (2018)
  • Since 2020, it has started using real time PCR for HLA typing, and started measuring C1q antibodies
Research methods
  • Typing of HLA class I and II (DNA analysis at low, medium, and high resolution level) using molecular biology techniques (PCR-SSP, PCR-SSO, Real-Time PCR);
  • HLA class I typing using the serologic method;
  • Cross-matching between transplant donor and recipient;
  • Measuring anti-HLA antibody levels by using the panel reactivity test (PRA-CDC, myco-cytotoxic test);
  • Identifying anti-HLA class I and II antibodies (solid phase Luminex assays);
  • Assessing specificity of anti-HLA class I and II antibodies (solid phase Luminex assays);
Key equipment
  • Inverted phase contrast microscopes
  • LABScan™ 200 – LUMINEX 200 Analyser
  • Thermocyclers (BIOMETRA T-GRADIENT, BIORAD T-100, EPPENDORF X50S, QUANT STUDIO REAL-TIME PCR)
  • Visualization equipment (PROXIMA 2650)
  • Centrifuges, freezers
Most important projects (during the last 10 years)
  • Laboratory of Tissue Immunology works with Organ Transplant Waiting List as part of cooperation with Poltransplant. Additionally, it participates in the National Transplantation Medicine Development Programme, 2011-2020.
  • It takes part in the Lower Silesian Science Festival and organizes specialization internships for bio-medical analysts and medical doctors, as well as specialization courses for bio-medical analysts.
Selected publications
  • Bogunia-Kubik K. Układ HLA – znaczenie w transplantologii komórek krwiotwórczych. In: Transplantologia Kliniczna. Przeszczepy Komórkowe. Editors: Wiesław Wiktor Jędrzejczak and Lech Cierpka; TerMedia Wydawnictwa Medyczne, Poznań, 2020.
  • Lewandowicz-Uszynska A, Kamińska M, Pasternak G, Bogunia-Kubik K. Defective immune response in children with recurrent respiratory tract infections due to SNP-associated decreased IFN-gamma levels. HLA 2019; 93(5): 334. 33rd European Immunogenetics and  Histocompatibility Conference, 8-11.05.2019, Lisbon, Portugal.
  • Kamińska M, Niepiekło-Miniewska W, Nieszporek A, Gębura K, Bogunia-Kubik K: Patients awaiting kidney transplantation are more frequently carriers of the rs763780 488G allele that is associated with higher IL-17F serum levels. HLA 2018; 91(5): 361. 32nd European Immunogenetics and Histocompatibility Conference, jointly with the 25th AIBT (Italian Society for Immunogenetics and Transplantation Biology) annual meeting, 9-12.05.2018, Venice, Italy (ART AND SCIENCE: THE EVOLUTIONARY PICTURE OF IMMUNOGENETICS)
  • Kamińska M, Niepiekło-Miniewska W, Nieszporek A, Gębura K, Bogunia-Kubik K: Analysis of the IL-17 receptors genetic variants in relation to polymorphisms and expression of the IL-17A and IL-17F encoding genes patients awaiting renal transplantation. Arch Immunol Ther Exp, 2016; 64: S10. 10th East-West Immunogenetics Conference (EWIC), 21-23.04.2016, Wroclaw, Poland
  • Bogunia-Kubik K, Wysoczańska B, Karabon L, Pawlak-Adamska E, Gębura K, Iwaszko M, Chaszczewska-Markowska M, Partyka A, Niepiekło-Miniewska W, Kaminska M, Tomkiewicz A, Frydecka I: Multigenbank – an immunogenetic database of the Polish population. Tissue Antigens, 2015; 85(5): 370. 29th European Federation for Immunogenetics Conference, 26-29.04.2015, Geneva, Switzerland