title: Ethnic variation of the HLA-G*0105N allele in two Chinese populations.
abstract: Unlike high polymorphic classical human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I molecules, the genetic polymorphism of HLA-G is very limited. However, the prevalence of HLA-G alleles among different ethnic populations varied dramatically. The HLA-G null allele (HLA-G*0105N) is defined by a cytosine deletion (Delta C) at position 1597 in exon 3, which disrupts the reading frame and alters the expression of HLA-G proteins. The HLA-G*0105N allelic frequency was investigated in previous studies and possible roles were addressed. In the current study, a total of 310 Chinese Han and 260 Chinese She ethnic minority population had been genotyped for the G*0105N polymorphism. Marked difference was observed that the G*0105N allelic frequency in Chinese Han was 1.61%, while no copy of the null allele was observed in the Chinese She minority population (P(c) = 0.0073). Data also revealed that no homozygote of HLA-G*0105N allele exists in this Chinese Han population. Furthermore, significant difference was found for the frequencies of HLA-G*0105N both in Chinese Han and in Chinese She populations when compared with other ethnic populations. Taken together, our results indicated that ethnic variation of the HLA-G*0105N polymorphism among different ethnic populations is possibly the result of evolution. However, the advantages of the selection of this allele are necessary to be further investigated.
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Center, Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Wenzhou Medical College, Linhai, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: D-P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: W-G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: W-H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Yan
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D059951:HLA-G Antigens; D006801:Humans; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic
chemical_list: D006680:HLA Antigens; D059951:HLA-G Antigens; C420206:HLA-G*01:05N antigen