Polymorphisms of HLA-DRB1, -DQA1 and -DQB1 in inhabitants of Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan

Alexandr B Kuranov; Mikhail N Vavilov; Gulshara Zh Abildinova; Ainur R Akilzhanova; Aisha N Iskakova; Elena V Zholdybayeva; Margarita N Boldyreva; Claudia A Müller; Kuvat T Momynaliev

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0115265

Polymorphisms of HLA-DRB1, -DQA1 and -DQB1 in inhabitants of Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan

PLoS One. 2014 Dec 22;9(12):e115265. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115265. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Alexandr B Kuranov¹, Mikhail N Vavilov², Gulshara Zh Abildinova³, Ainur R Akilzhanova⁴, Aisha N Iskakova⁴, Elena V Zholdybayeva⁴, Margarita N Boldyreva⁵, Claudia A Müller¹, Kuvat T Momynaliev⁴

Affiliations

¹ Medical University Clinic, Tübingen, Germany.
² Chelyabinsk Regional Blood Centre, Chelyabinsk, Russian Federation.
³ National Research Center for Maternal and Child Health, Astana, Kazakhstan.
⁴ National Center for Biotechnology, Astana, Kazakhstan.
⁵ NRC Institute of Immunology FMBA of Russia, Moscow, Russian Federation.

Abstract

Background: Kazakhstan has been inhabited by different populations, such as the Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek and others. Here we investigate allelic and haplotypic polymorphisms of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes at DRB1, DQA1 and DQB1 loci in the Kazakh ethnic group, and their genetic relationship between world populations.

Methodology/principal findings: A total of 157 unrelated Kazakh ethnic individuals from Astana were genotyped using sequence based typing (SBT-Method) for HLA-DRB1, -DQA1 and -DQB1 loci. Allele frequencies, neighbor-joining method, and multidimensional scaling analysis have been obtained for comparison with other world populations. Statistical analyses were performed using Arlequin v3.11. Applying the software PAST v. 2.17 the resulting genetic distance matrix was used for a multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS). Respectively 37, 17 and 19 alleles were observed at HLA-DRB1, -DQA1 and -DQB1 loci. The most frequent alleles were HLA-DRB1*07:01 (13.1%), HLA-DQA1*03:01 (13.1%) and HLA-DQB1*03:01 (17.6%). In the observed group of Kazakhs DRB1*07:01-DQA1*02:01-DQB1*02:01 (8.0%) was the most common three loci haplotype. DRB1*10:01-DQB1*05:01 showed the strongest linkage disequilibrium. The Kazakh population shows genetic kinship with the Kazakhs from China, Uyghurs, Mongolians, Todzhinians, Tuvinians and as well as with other Siberians and Asians.

Conclusions/significance: The HLA-DRB1, -DQA1 and -DQB1 loci are highly polymorphic in the Kazakh population, and this population has the closest relationship with other Asian and Siberian populations.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Alleles
Asian People / genetics*
Gene Frequency
Genotype
HLA-DQ alpha-Chains / genetics*
HLA-DQ beta-Chains / genetics*
HLA-DRB1 Chains / genetics*
Haplotypes
Humans
Kazakhstan
Linkage Disequilibrium
Polymorphism, Genetic*

Substances

HLA-DQ alpha-Chains
HLA-DQ beta-Chains
HLA-DQA1 antigen
HLA-DQB1 antigen
HLA-DRB1 Chains

Grants and funding

This research was supported by funding from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan N01.04.01, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for Alexandr B. Kuranov, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and Open Access Publishing Fund of Tübingen University. This work was also supported in part by an intramural funding. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.