The Nivkhi are a native people isolated in the Nogliki region of Sakhalin, Far East Russia, where our group recently recognized human T-cell lymphoma virus type I (HTLV-I) infection. In order to trace the Nivkhi's ethnic background and the HTLV-I carriers, we investigated HLA class I and II allele types of 53 Nivkhi (including four HTLV-I carriers). Major HLA class I alleles of the Nivkhi were A*24, A*02, B*40, B*48, B*27, B*35 with allele frequencies similar to the Orochon, a native people isolated in Northeast China. Major Nivkhi class II alleles were DRB1*0901, DRB1*1401, DRB1*1201, DRB1*1106 with allele frequencies similar to the Ainu in Hokkaido, Japan, but dissimilar to other Asian Mongoloids, including the general Japanese population. The same HLA class I and II allele frequencies are found in both Nivkhi HTLV-I carriers and the background population. A dendrogram of HLA class I alleles showed that the Nivkhi were closely related to the Orochon and Yakut, and remotely related to the Japanese, Ainu and other Asian Mongoloids. Interestingly, the Nivkhi were intermediately related to the Amerindians (Inuit, Tlingit and Andeans), a relationship closer than to the Japanese and Asian Mongoloids. These results suggested the Nivkhi might be related to some genetic group of Northeast Asian Mongoloids like the Orochon and Yakut, being infected with HTLV-I in the distant past before diverging into the current major Mongoloid ethnic groups.
HLA-DP genotyping with sequence-specific oligonucleotides can detected known sequence variations in the polymorphic segments of the DPB1 second exon. Since the allelic polymorphism of the 22 published alleles is based on recombination of sequence motifs from six variable regions, DPB1 typing depends on the reactivity pattern of many different probes rather than from typing with single allele-specific probes. By computer simulation, we have previously shown that the minimal set of probes to define the 22 different alleles and most of the heterozygous combinations is 18. Here we describe HLA-DPB1 typing results and allele frequencies in a panel of 200 unrelated Caucasians from Southwest Germany. The result confirmed the power of the new HLA-DPB1 typing method, but we failed to detect three of the previously described alleles in our panel. To accommodate with the observed 19 different alleles, the sequence and hybridization conditions of 17 oligonucleotide probes are given, which are able to differentiate all except two, resolved by group-specific amplification, of the 190 possible heterozygous phenotypes.
A panel of eleven HLA-DR5 homozygous lymphoblastoid cell lines was investigated for structural heterogeneity on the product level. HLA class II antigens were isolated by immunoprecipitation with different anti-class II monoclonal antibodies and separated by two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis. As a result, three distinct DRB1, one commonly expressed DRB3, and two distinct DQ gene products could be identified that combined to four different haplotypes associated with HLA-DR5. A hitherto serologically undetected split of HLA-DRw11 was presented by three cell lines. HLA-DRw11 and HLA-DRw12 were found to be related allospecifities that differ only in their DRB1 locus products, but are closely associated with the supertypic DRB3 allele HLA-DRw52b and with HLA-DQw7. The DRB3 alleles HLA-DRw52a and DRw52c were not detected in our cell line panel, indicating that these supertypic determinants are in negative linkage disequilibrium with HLA-DR5. Our data suggest that intra HLA-DR/DQ crossing-over events contribute to the development of the HLA class II polymorphism. Evidence is presented that the T cell defined HLA-D allospecifities are commonly determined by DRB1 and DQ gene products.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.