title: HLA genes in Cubans and the detection of Amerindian alleles.
abstract: Caribbean Islands including Cuba were first inhabited by Meso-American and later by Arawak-speaking Amerindians from nowadays Venezuela. Spanish invaders brought to almost extinction to the Amerindian population after 1492. Black slaves from West Africa were taken into Cuba by Europeans. The degree of admixture among populations is approached. HLA alleles were studied by DNA techniques. Comparison with other worldwide populations (a total of 14.094 chromosomes) included genetic distances, Neighbour-Joining dendrograms, correspondence analyses and calculation of extended haplotypes. While African-European HLA features were clearly found, Amerindian HLA characteristics are less evident, indicating that Amerindian devastation was particularly marked after 1492 AD. However, typical Amerindian alleles have been found in our Cuban sample, i.e. DRB1*0403, DRB1*0404, DRB1*0407, DRB1*0411, DRB1*0802 and DRB1*1602. The presence of Amerindian alleles in Cubans [corrected] may have a bear in the making up of transplantation registries (both for bone marrow and solid organ transplantation) at the regional level and also be important for epidemiological studies of diseases linked to HLA.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorios Betera, Havana, Cuba.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alegre
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moscoso
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martinez-Laso
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martin-Villa
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Suarez
authors.forename: Almudena
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.forename: Juan I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Serrano-Vela
authors.forename: Gilberto
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vargas-Alarcon
authors.forename: Remedios
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pacheco
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arnaiz-Villena
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D044383:Black People / Q000235:genetics; D003462:Cuba / Q000208:ethnology; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005805:Genes, MHC Class I / Q000235:genetics*; D005802:Genes, MHC Class II / Q000235:genetics*; D005843:Geography; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000235:genetics*; D004930:Inuit / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics