HLA-C polymorphisms in two cohorts of donors for bone marrow transplantation

Abstract

The typing for HLA-C in transplantation was rather neglected in the past. However, several recent studies have emphasized its role in transplantation and its association with the outcome. Serological typing of HLA-C could identify only a limited number of HLA-C antigens, resulting in a number of HLA-C blanks. This was mainly due to the low expression of surface HLA-C and the small number of available specific anti-sera. Performing molecular methods has identified new HLA-C alleles and filled the blank of most serological typed antigens. In this study, we compared serological and molecular typing of HLA-C in two cohorts of healthy Saudis. Our serological typing method identified HLA-C1-7 with different frequencies, 23.5% of the alleles were not identified and thus defined as blank. Using the SSP molecular method, all samples were typed and all alleles were defined. Both methods showed that CFNx0107 and CFNx0106 have the highest frequency in the Saudi population. Our study emphasizes the importance of molecular methods in identifying all possible HLA-C alleles.