[Identification of a novel KIR3DL3*064 allele by cDNA cloning and sequencing].

Objective: To report on a novel KIR3DL3 allele identified in a southern Han Chinese individual.
Methods: Peripheral blood sample was collected from a voluntary blood donor with inconclusive result by KIR3DL3 sequence-based typing (SBT). Total mRNA was extracted and subjected to reverse transcription to obtain KIR3DL3 cDNA, which was then amplified by PCR with a pair of KIR3DL3-specific primers. The product was subjected to cDNA cloning and sequencing.
Results: cDNA cloning and sequencing have identified a wide-type KIR3DL3*00802 allele and a novel KIR3DL3*064 allele. The latter differed from KIR3DL3*00601 by a missense variant at codon 374[c.1184 C>T (p.Thr374Ile)] in exon 9. The novel KIR3DL3 allele has been officially assigned by the KIR subcommittee of World Health Organization Nomenclature Committee for factors of HLA system.
Conclusion: cDNA cloning and sequencing may be used to distinguish inconclusive results in KIR3DL3 SBT in order to identify novel KIR alleles.