HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 alleles and cytokine polymorphism frequencies in a population from Bulgaria

HLA profile of the donors in the Macedonian Bone Marrow Donor Registry

The importance of HLA alleles in the process of haematopoietic stem cell transplantation, especially the process of unrelated donor search, is enormous. Macedonian Bone Marrow Donor Registry was established in 2010 and has registered volunteer donors from different nationalities that live in the Republic of Macedonia. The aim of this study was to determine the HLA allele and haplotype frequencies of the volunteer donors from the Macedonian Bone Marrow Donor Registry and to compare this results with the Macedonians from a family study. We analyzed 1,541 donors, with different nationalities, Macedonian, Albanian and Macedonian Muslims that were most numerous in MBMDR, and typed them for HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1, whereas Macedonian also for HLA-DQA1 and HLA-DQB1 by SSO method (One Lambda, CA, USA). The most frequent alleles in Macedonians were HLA-A*02, 01, 24; HLA-B*35, 18, 51; HLA-C*07, 04, 12; HLA-DRB1*11, 16, 13; HLA-DQA1*01, 05 and HLA-DQB1*05, 03, 06; in Albanians they were HLA-A*02, 24,01; HLA-B*51, 18, 35; HLA-C*07, 04, 12, HLA-DRB1*11, 13,16; and in Macedonian Muslims they were HLA-A*02, 01, 24; HLA-B*18, 51, 35, HLA-C*07, 04, 02 and HLA-DRB1*11, 16, 14. The most common haplotype in Macedonian was HLA-A*01-B*08-C*07-DRB1*03, whilst in Albanian and Macedonian Muslims HLA-A*02-B*18-C*07-DRB1*11. The comparison of the HLA allele groups between Macedonian from MBMDR and family study showed similar distribution. This study confirmed the close relationship between the populations that live in the Balkan Peninsula.

HLA-A, -B, -C and -DRB1 allele and haplotype frequencies in the Macedonian population based on a family study

AIM

The aim of this study was to determine HLA allele and 2-, 3- and 4-loci haplotype frequencies in a sample from Macedonian population with defined haplotypes based on family history.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We analysed 286 unrelated individuals with Macedonian origin, parents of patients who needed stem cell transplantation, in the period of 01.01.2003 till 31.12.2016. Allele and haplotype frequencies, as well as Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were calculated using the Arlequin3.5 software. Population comparison was calculated using the PHYLIP software.

RESULTS

We identified 18 HLA-A, 26 HLA-B, 13 HLA-C and 13 HLA-DRB1 allele group families. The most frequent allele groups in our population were HLA-A*02 (29.0%), HLA-A*24 (13.8%), HLA-B*35 (16.1%), HLA-B*51 (14.7%), HLA-B*18 (14.7%), HLA-C*07 (27.9%), HLA-DRB1*11 (25.5%) and HLA-DRB1*16 (14.8%). The most frequent four loci haplotype was HLA-A*01-B*08-C*07-DRB1*03 (2.7%). Our comparison showed that the Macedonian population is closely related to the neighbouring countries in the Balkan Peninsula.

CONCLUSION

This study provides data about the HLA diversity in the Macedonian population, which can be very important in the process of unrelated donor search, and in addition yields control group for future disease association studies in our population.