HLA‐A, B, C, DRB1 and DQB1 allele and haplotype frequencies in volunteer bone marrow donors from Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia

• Published in: HLA : immune response genetics 2019-07, Vol.94 (1), p.49-56
• Main Authors: Jawdat, Dunia, Al‐Zahrani, Mohsen, Al‐Askar, Ahmed, Fakhoury, Hana, Uyar, Fatma Aytül, Hajeer, Ali
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: alleles; haplotypes; HLA; Saudi Arabia
• ISSN: 2059-2302; 2059-2310
• DOI: 10.1111/tan.13533

We analyzed HLA allele and haplotype frequencies from donors from the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia. A cross‐sectional study was performed on 2405 bone marrow donors from the Eastern region. HLA typing was carried out by sequencing. The most common HLA allele groups were HLA‐A*02:01:01G (11.08%), A*01:01:01G (10.40%), HLA‐B*52:01:01G (8.79%), B*18:01:01G (8.07%), HLA‐C*04:01:01G (17.88%), C*12:03:01G (10.23%), HLA‐DRB1*10:01 (14.89%), DRB1*03:01:01G (14.10%), HLA‐DQB1*02:01:01G (24.53%) and DQB1*05:01:01G (20.17%). The most frequent HLA‐A~C~B~DRB1~DQB1 haplotypes were HLA‐A*01:03~C*15:05:01G~B*73:01~DRB1*10:01:01~DQB1*05:01:01G (3.11%) and HLA‐A*01:01:01G~C*12:02:01G~B*52:01:01G~DRB1*15:02:01~DQB1*06:01:01G (2.25%). When comparing the allele and haplotype frequencies of the Eastern regions' population to those from the Central region we found significant differences in several allele frequencies including A*01:01:01G (P ≤ 0.0001), B*52:01:01G (P ≤ 0.0001), B*18:01:01G (P = 0.0001), C*12:03:01G (P < 0.0001), DRB1*10:01:01 (P < 0.0001) and DQB1*05:01:01G (P < 0.0001). Our data confirms genetic heterogeneity among the Saudi population.