Prevalence and Frequency Distribution of HLA-A, HLA-B and HLA-C Alleles in the Punjab, Pakistan

The Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) system, a set of highly polymorphic genes, has been found to play an effective role in the disease resistance and disease susceptibility. In this study, prevalence of class-I alleles of HLA was characterized at HLAA,- B and -C loci in the 216 individuals randomly selected population at different regions of Punjab province of Pakistan. The study revealed that at HLA-A locus the allele 11 was most prevalent with 16.7 % frequency. Similarly, at HLA-B locus the allele 51 was found abundant with 15% frequency and at HLA-C locus the allele 7 was prevalent with 24% frequency. Among the two-locus HLA class I haplotypes, B*08/C*07 was found to be the most prevalent followed by B*35/C*04. Surprisingly, HLA-B*29 and HLA-B*36 alleles were found in the Punjabi population which is contrary to the previous reports.