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A basic match is based on comparing the donor's and recipient's white blood cell characteristics. Three pairs of HLA antigens are checked: HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-DR. Since there are three pairs it's called a 6/6 match if they are all the same. (HLA stands for human leukocyte antigen.)
Researchers have learned of other antigens that can be compared, to show even more precisely whether a donor and recipient are matched. If they add an HLA-C comparison to the test then that's 4 pairs instead of 3 pairs, so you can find an 8/8 match.
If they test an additional pair like HLA-DQB1 then 5 pairs can make a 10/10 match. If they test both HLA-DQB1 and HLA-DPB1 then 6 pairs would make a 12/12 match possible.
Not all antigens are equally important. I've read that HLA-DR is the most important of the three, followed by HLA-A.
If you were told you have an 8/8 match then it might actually be an 10/10 match too, but you don't know. It could also be an 8/10 match or a 9/10 match.
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