title: HLA-A*02 allele frequencies and haplotypic associations in Koreans.
abstract: We have investigated the frequencies of HLA-A*02 alleles and their haplotypic associations with HLA-B and -DRB1 loci in 439 healthy unrelated Koreans, including 214 parents from 107 families. All of the 227 samples (51.7%) typed as A2 by serology were analyzed for A*02 alleles using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-low ionic strength-single-strand conformation polymorphism (LIS-SSCP) method. A total of six different A*02 alleles were detected (A*02 allele frequency 29.6%): A*0201/9 (16.6%), *0203 (0.5%), *0206 (9.3%), *0207 (3.0%), and one each case of *0210 and *02 undetermined type. Two characteristic haplotypes showing the strongest linkage disequilibrium were A*0203-B38-DRB]*1502 and A*0207-B46-DRB1*0803. Besides these strong associations, significant two-locus associations (P<0.001) were observed for A*0201 with B61, DRB1*0901 and DRB1*1401, and for A*0206 with B48 and B61. HLA haplotypes carrying HLA-A2 showed a variable distribution of A*02 alleles, and all of the eight most common A2-B-DR haplotypes occurring at frequencies of > or =1% were variably associated with two different A*02 alleles. These results demonstrate that substantial heterogeneity is present in the distribution of HLA-A*02 alleles and related haplotypes in Koreans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pathology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea. parkmhee@snu.ac.kr
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Whang
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D005787:Gene Frequency; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen / Q000235:genetics*; D015235:HLA-B Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea
chemical_list: D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen; D015235:HLA-B Antigens; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains