Prevalence of HLA Alleles in Egyptian Population

Abstract

In this study, polymorphisms of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I (A, B, C) and class II (DR) loci were analyzed in the Egyptian population using intermediate resolution, mixed HLA typing methods. A total of 15 A, 27 B, 7 Cw, and 14 DRB1 alleles of HLA were found in Egypt. The frequencies of A2, A1, A30, B*35, B*41, DR*13, DR*04, DR*11, DR*03, and DR*07 were >10%. The following haplotypes were common with frequencies >5%: seven A-B-C and four A-DR.

Progress in the discovery of new alleles’ variability in the histo-compatibility loci, with up to hundreds of alleles defined at individual HLA loci, is evident (1), yet in Egypt there hasn’t been enough studies delineating characteristics and distribution of population prevalent HLA alleles with all the resulting effects on infectious medicine, transplant medicine and anthropology hindered, among others. To remedy this, this study has undertaken describing the HLA make-up of the Egyptian population. Alleles, genotypes and haplotypes frequencies are calculated and analyzed in comparison with other related literature in 3 large populations (2), (3), (4) to identify compatibility with donors and recipients of organ