Determination of neutrophil Fcgamma receptor IIIb antigens (HNA-1a, HNA-1b and HNA-1c) by fluorescence-primed allele-specific polymerase chain reaction.

We evaluate a technique for genotyping HNA-1a, -1b and -1c antigens, resorting to fluorescence-primed allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (FPAS-PCR), and determine the frequency of the different genotypes in a normal Portuguese population. Our results indicate that the FPAS-PCR system is a reliable and simple tool for genotyping the neutrophil Fcgamma receptor IIIB antigens. The HNA-1a, -1b and -1c gene frequencies of 42.98, 84.21 and 6.14%, respectively, found in this study are similar to those reported for other white populations.