title: High frequency of HLA-A*0103 allele in a Somali population.
abstract: We report the existence of class I HLA allele A*0103 in an ethnic group (Somali) where this allele has not been reported. This allele was discovered in a study to examine the relationship between HLA alleles and humoral antibody response to measles vaccine among recent immigrants from Somalia to Olmsted County, Minnesota. We initially used polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) to carry out HLA class I typing. Based on PCR-SSP, 55 subjects were assigned the allele HLA-A*0101. Following direct DNA sequencing of the PCR products, 37 of the 55 subjects (67.3%) that were initially assigned the A*0101 allele were found to actually be A*0103. Our data are significant because it demonstrates that many of the previously typed A*0101 individuals are actually A*0103 as the SSP or sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes method cannot distinguish between the two alleles. Lastly, this is the first identification of this allele in the homozygous state.
authors.affiliation: Mayo Vaccine Research Group, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. poland.gregory@mayo.edu
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Poland
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sohni
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Domanico
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Kroning
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: DeGoey
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jimale
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Jacobson
authors.forename: S B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Moore
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000276:immunology*; D015234:HLA-A Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D015788:HLA-A1 Antigen; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012998:Somalia
chemical_list: D015234:HLA-A Antigens; C432723:HLA-A*01:03 antigen; D015788:HLA-A1 Antigen; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes