Allele Frequencies of HLA-A, B and DRB1 among People of Fars Ethnicity Living in Tehran

Background: Human leukocyte antigens (HLA) are polymorphic cell surface proteins. Distribution of HLA alleles vary among different racial and ethnic populations in unrelated stem cell registries. Determination of HLA allele frequencies in different ethnic groups is useful for population genetic analyses. Materials and Methods: Based on data available from the Iranian Stem Cell Donor Registry, HLA-A, B, DRB1 allele frequencies were evaluated from 244 individuals who were recruited as unrelated volunteer donors by PCR-SSP method in people of Fars ethnicity living in Tehran, Iran. Results: The most frequent alleles found were HLA-A*02(19.8%), HLA-A*03(13%), HLA-A*11 and -24 (12.5%), HLA-B*35(17.7%) HLA-B*51(13.2%), HLA-DRB1*11(20.8%), whereas HLA-A*34 and HLA-A*44 (0.2%), HLA-B*47, B*54, B*56, B*73(0.2%), and HLA-DRB1*09 (0.4%) were the least frequent alleles. Conclusion: Identifying HLA allele frequencies in different ethnic groups, helps in designing a better plan for development of donor centers in different provinces of a country, and a more precise prediction of donor size in the registry, in addition to finding suitable donors for patients in need of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Keywords: HLA, unrelated donors, ethnic groups, Iran