HLA frequencies in Pakistani population in comparison with Caucasian, Oriental and Negroid population

Abstract

Objective: The main objective of the study was to determine HLA-A, B, and DR frequencies in Pakistani population and their comparison with HLA frequencies reported for caucasian, oriental and negroid population. Material and methods: Five thousand prospective donors/recipients of renal/bone marrow transplant who had undergone HLA typing were included in the study. All subjects were of pure Pakistani origin. They included 1245 recipients (996 males, 249 females) and 3755 donors (2740 males, 1015 females). The HLA antigens were tested with two stage NIH micro-lymphocytotoxicity assay by using Terasaki plates. Separated T and B lymphocytes were used for class I and Class II antigens detection. Relative antigen frequencies were determined and used to calculate the gene frequencies. Results: The HLA class I antigens A2, A11, A24(9), A1, A26(10), A3, A28, A33(19), B51(5), B35, B8, B57(17), B60(40), B44(12), B7, B61(40) were the most commonly detected antigens for the HLA class I A and B subclasses. In case of HLA-DR, DR3, DR11(5), DR7, DR15(2) were the most frequently found antigens. These antigen frequencies were compared with the antigen frequencies reported for the Caucasians, Orientals and Negroid population. Conclusion: Comparison of common frequencies with other populations indicates that Pakistani population is nearer to Caucasians and Orientals.