HLA class I and class II frequencies of a Hong Kong Chinese population based on bone marrow donor registry data

Abstract

HLA-A, and -B antigen, gene and haplotype frequencies have been calculated from 18,774 southern Chinese donors on a Hong Kong-based bone marrow donor registry. Two hundred and fifty donors were also tested for HLA-DRB1, -DQA1, and -DQB1 alleles using the PCR-SSP technique. Forty-one HLA-A, -B combinations showed statistically significant positive linkage disequilibrium at the 0.05 level after adjustment for the number of haplotypes theoretically possible and 43 showed significant negative disequilibrium. Thirty-nine different DRB1-DQA1-DQB1 haplotypes were identified of which 20 occurred 5 or more times. The most prevalent was DRB1*0901-DQA1*0301-DQB1*0303 (haplotype frequency = 0.1620). This is the first paper to report the distribution of DQA1*0104, DQA1*05011 and DQA1*05012/13 alleles in Chinese. These data are important for phylogenetic, comparative and medico-legal studies and are of particular value in estimating the likelihood of obtaining appropriately matched donors for Chinese patients awaiting bone marrow transplantation.