Establishment of HLA class I and MICA/B null HEK-293T panel expressing single MICA alleles to detect anti-MICA antibodies

Pre- and post-transplantation anti-MICA antibody detection development are associated with an increased rejection risk and low graft survival. We previously generated HLA class I null HEK-293T using CRISPR/Cas9, while MICA and MICB genes were removed in this study. A panel of 11 cell lines expressing single MICA alleles was established. Anti-MICA antibody in the sera of kidney transplant patients was determined using flow cytometric method (FCM) and the Luminex method. In the 44 positive sera, the maximum FCM value was 2879 MFI compared to 28,135 MFI of Luminex method. Eleven sera (25%) were determined as positive by FCM and 32 sera (72%) were positive by the Luminex method. The sum of total MICA antigens, MICA*002, *004, *009, *019, and *027 correlation showed a statistically significant between the two methods (P = 0.0412, P = 0.0476, P = 0.0019, P = 0.0098, P = 0.0467, and P = 0.0049). These results demonstrated that HEK-293T-based engineered cell lines expressing single MICA alleles were suitable for measuring specific antibodies against MICA antigens in the sera of transplant patients. Studies of antibodies to MICA antigens may help to understand responses in vivo and increase clinical relevance at the cellular level such as complement-dependent cytotoxicity.