title: Striking diversity of DR15 haplotypes in Croatians.
abstract: Analysis of HLA class II polymorphism revealed DR2 as the most frequent antigen in Croatians (20, 9%). The observed DR2 subtypes and their frequencies were as follows: DRB1*1601-9.9%; 1501-8.5%; 1602-1.8%, 1502-1.4% and 1503-0.7%. Furthermore, analysis of probable DRB1-DQA1-DQB1 haplotype associations in unrelated individuals revealed a high diversity of DR15 haplotype associations. Now, to confirm this observation from unrelated individuals, family studies have been performed. Sixty-eight families, with at least one parent and one offspring DR2 positive, have been studied. DRB1*1601-DQA1*0102-DQB1*0502 seems to be conserved haplotype in Croatians while DRB1*15 haplotypes showed extremely high diversity. Seven rare DR15 haplotypes are observed; six of these appear twice and one only once. Two haplotypes appear to be unique to Croatians: DRB1*1501-DQA1*0102-DQB1*0501 and DRB1*1501-DQA1*0102-DQB1*0604. This confirmation of extremely high diversity of DR15 haplotypes in Croatians is a valuable tool for unrelated bone marrow transplantation and DR2 disease association studies.
authors.affiliation: National Referral Organ Transplantation and Tissue Typing Centre, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Grubic
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zunec
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kastelan
mesh_terms: D017523:Croatia; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006683:HLA-DQ Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D059848:HLA-DQ alpha-Chains; D059866:HLA-DQ beta-Chains; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D015802:HLA-DR2 Antigen / Q000235:genetics; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D006683:HLA-DQ Antigens; D059848:HLA-DQ alpha-Chains; D059866:HLA-DQ beta-Chains; C069050:HLA-DQA1 antigen; C069051:HLA-DQB1 antigen; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D015802:HLA-DR2 Antigen; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains