Regional HLA differences in Poland and their effect on stem cell donor registry planning.
Regional HLA frequency differences are of potential relevance for the optimization of stem cell donor recruitment. We analyzed a very large sample (n = 123,749) of registered Polish stem cell donors. Donor figures by 1-digit postal code regions ranged from n = 5,243 (region 9) to n = 19,661 (region 8). Simulations based on region-specific haplotype frequencies showed that donor recruitment in regions 0, 2, 3 and 4 (mainly located in the south-eastern part of Poland) resulted in an above-average increase of matching probabilities for Polish patients. Regions 1, 7, 8, 9 (mainly located in the northern part of Poland) showed an opposite behavior. However, HLA frequency differences between regions were generally small. A strong indication for regionally focused donor recruitment efforts can, therefore, not be derived from our analyses. Results of haplotype frequency estimations showed sample size effects even for sizes between n≈5,000 and n≈20,000. This observation deserves further attention as most published haplotype frequency estimations are based on much smaller samples.
DKMS German Bone Marrow Donor Center, Tübingen, Germany ; DKMS Life Science Lab, Dresden, Germany.
Alexander H
AH
Schmidt
Ute V
UV
Solloch
Julia
J
Pingel
Jürgen
J
Sauter
Irina
I
Böhme
Nezih
N
Cereb
Kinga
K
Dubicka
Stephan
S
Schumacher
Jacek
J
Wachowiak
Gerhard
G
Ehninger
D000483:Alleles; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005843:Geography; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D006239:Haplotypes; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011044:Poland; D012042:Registries; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D014019:Tissue Donors
D006680:HLA Antigens