HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1, and -DQB1 Allele Lineages and Haplotype Frequencies among Saudis

There are few reported studies on Saudi population for human leukocyte antigens (HLA) genes. We investigated allele lineages (two-digit) and haplotype frequencies of HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1, and -DQB1 loci in 499 healthy unrelated individuals, selected from potential bone marrow transplant (BMT) families’ donors at King Fahad Medical City (KFMC), Saudi Arabia (SA). Genotyping was performed by Sequence Specific Oligonucleotide Probe (SSOP) utilizing a Luminex-based method. Allele lineages and haplotype frequencies were evaluated along with principal component analysis (PCA) to compare findings with previously reported data on Arab related populations. A total of 18 allele lineages for HLA-A, 28 for -B, 14 for -C, 13 for -DRB1, and 5 for -DQB1 were detected. High values for linkage disequilibrium indicators were found for B:C (D’ = 0.86599) and DRB1:DQB1 (D’ = 0.89468) loci. Additionally, PCA results confirmed previous findings on this population, but also indicated some genetic distances from other Arab related populations. The present study helps in further investigations of this population in anthropological analysis and HLA-associated disease studies.