Origin of the Ukrainian minority of Kazakhstan as inferred from HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1, and -DQB1 alleles and haplotypes distribution.

The present-day population of Kazakhstan comprises more than 100 ethnic and linguistic groups, of which Ukrainians rates numerically as the fourth, following native Kazakhs, Russians, and Uzbeks. We investigated the HLA profile of Kazakhstani Ukrainians and compared them with those of other populations by applying genetic distances, correspondence analysis, admixture, and haplotype examination. Of the 128 HLA alleles identified, A02:01 (28.64%), B07:02 (9.71%), B13:02 (9.71%), C06:02 (15.05%), DRB107:01 (15.20%), and DQB103:01 (24.76%) were the utmost common alleles. The most common 2-locus haplotypes identified were A02:01 ~ B13:02 (6.66%), B13:02 ~ DRB107:01 (6.57%), B13:02 ~ C06:02 (10.10%), and DRB101:01 ~ DQB105:01 (12.12%), while A02:01 ~ B13:02 ~ C06:02 ~ DRB107:01 ~ DQB1*02:01 were the most frequent five-locus haplotype (4.04%) in Kazakhstani Ukrainians. Comparative analysis revealed that Ukrainians of Kazakhstan are closely related to Eastern Europeans (included Ukrainians), and European Russians, but distant from Asian populations. This supports the historical notion that Kazakhstani Ukrainians originated from Ukraine, following their massive migrations to central Asia in the 18th-20th centuries.