HLA-A, B, C, DRB1 and DQB1 allele and haplotype frequencies in volunteer bone marrow donors from Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

We analyzed HLA allele and haplotype frequencies from donors from the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was performed on 2405 bone marrow donors from the Eastern region. HLA typing was carried out by sequencing. The most common HLA allele groups were HLA-A*02:01:01G (11.08%), A*01:01:01G (10.40%), HLA-B*52:01:01G (8.79%), B*18:01:01G (8.07%), HLA-C*04:01:01G (17.88%), C*12:03:01G (10.23%), HLA-DRB1*10:01 (14.89%), DRB1*03:01:01G (14.10%), HLA-DQB1*02:01:01G (24.53%) and DQB1*05:01:01G (20.17%). The most frequent HLA-A^~ C^~ B^~ DRB1^~ DQB1 haplotypes were HLA-A*01:03^~ C*15:05:01G^~ B*73:01^~ DRB1*10:01:01^~ DQB1*05:01:01G (3.11%) and HLA-A*01:01:01G^~ C*12:02:01G^~ B*52:01:01G^~ DRB1*15:02:01^~ DQB1*06:01:01G (2.25%). When comparing the allele and haplotype frequencies of the Eastern regions' population to those from the Central region we found significant differences in several allele frequencies including A*01:01:01G (P ≤ 0.0001), B*52:01:01G (P ≤ 0.0001), B*18:01:01G (P = 0.0001), C*12:03:01G (P < 0.0001), DRB1*10:01:01 (P < 0.0001) and DQB1*05:01:01G (P < 0.0001). Our data confirms genetic heterogeneity among the Saudi population.

Keywords: HLA; Saudi Arabia; alleles; haplotypes.