HLA PROFILE OF ETHNIC PAKISTANI POPULATION GROUPS.

Class 1 HLA-A and -B and Class 2 HLA-DR allele frequencies were determined in Pakistani ethnic linguistic population groups. A total of 942 potential kidney donors for living-related transplants were tested by Collaborative Transplant Study (CTS) 120 antisera trays for HLA-A and -B. All subjects homozygous for an allele, showing weak reactions or with crossreactions were retested by PCR-SSP using CTS primers, 24 for HLA-A and 48 for HLA-B. Class 2 HLA-DR were determined only by PCR–SSP with 24 primers from the CTS. The common antigen frequencies for HLA-A were A1=0.312, A2=0.402, A11=0.312, A24=0.221, A26=0.178 and A19, and splits=0.296. At HLA-B the common alleles were B8=0.234, B 35=0.213, B44=0.145, B51=0.197 and B60=0.177. Common HLA-DR alleles were DR 2=0.382, DR3(17)=0.424, DR5(11)=0.185, DR 6(13)=0.180 and DR 7=0.240. These results provide baseline data for ethnic Pakistani population groups based on DNA methods. This will help in studies relating to disease associations and cadaveric organ allocation programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]