[Difference in HLA-A*02 allele distribution between Han populations in south and north China].

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the distributions of HLA-A*02 alleles in Han populations and compare their difference between the south and north in China.

METHODS

A total of 208 individuals from south China and 109 from north China were randomly selected from registered bone marrow donors in Chinese Han population, who were tested positive for HLA-A*02 alleles by PCR with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP). Genotyping of the alleles was performed using PCR-sequence-based typing (PCR-SBT).

RESULTS

Six different HLA-A02 alleles (A020101, A0203, A0205, A0206, A0207 and A0210) were identified in the two Chinese Han populations, of which A0207(37%) was the predominant allele in southerners and A020101(48%) in the northerners. A020101(31%), A0203(16%) and A0206(14%) were common alleles in the southerners in comparison with A0206(21%) and A0207(23%) alleles in the northerners. The overall distribution of A02 alleles and the frequencies of A020101, A0203 and A0207 in the two populations differed significantly. The heterozygosity of A02 in the southerners and northerners was higher than 90% and 80% at the high- and low-resolution levels, respectively, and the distribution of A02 homozygote at low-resolution level in both populations showed diversity and regularity at high-resolution level.

CONCLUSIONS

HLA-A02 alleles possess high heterogeneity and genetic diversity in Chinese Han population with significantly different distributions in the two populations. HLA-A**020101, A0203 and A*0207 may serve as the genetic markers for dividing Chinese Han individuals into southerners and northerners in anthropological studies.