Characterization of HLA‐B*3921 and confirmation of HLA‐B*4415, two variant HLA‐B alleles identified in the Omani population

Abstract

We describe a variant HLA-B*39 allele present in two individuals from Oman, which has been officially named HLA-B*3921. In addition we confirm the existence of HLA-B*4415, an allele closely related to HLA-B*4501 differing only at the Bw4/Bw6 epitope.

Elucidation of Exon 1, 4, and 5 Sequences of 39 Infrequent HLA-B Alleles

“…The differences were all located in the Bw4/Bw6 sequence region[38]. Therefore, Williams et al proposed that the HLA-B*4415 allele was derived from B*4501 through a conversion event with a sequence bearing a Bw4 epitope[38]. Our exon 1, 4, and 5 sequences of B*4415 support the finding of Williams et al, the sequences were in complete agreement with the sequence of B*4501[1] …”

“…Exons 2 and 3 were previously found to be highly different from B*440201 with 14 nucleotide differences between them [38]. These exons of B*4415 (Table 3).…”

“…The differences were all located in the Bw4/Bw6 sequence region[38]. Therefore, Williams et al proposed that the HLA-B*4415 allele was derived from B*4501 through a conversion event with a sequence bearing a Bw4 epitope[38].…”

Associations of HLA-A, HLA-B and HLA-C alleles frequency with prevalence of herpes simplex virus infections and diseases across global populations: Implication for the development of an universal CD8+ T-cell epitope-based vaccine

“…The frequency of HLA-B*27 allele is also low in Arab (<3%) [132-139] and Israel Jewish populations (3.4%) [140]. One of the lowest frequencies of HLA-B*27 allele is detected in Hispanic (<2%) [100, 141-144], Mongolian (<2%) [145], Japanese (<2%) [146], Singaporean Chinese (<2%) [93, 123, 124, 147-149], and in Korean (<2%) populations [150-155]. A genital herpes study comparing HLA frequencies among HSV-seronegative individuals, HSV-2 seropositive “asymptomatic” individuals and HSV-2 seropositive symptomatic individuals reported an association between HLA-B*27 high frequency and an increase in symptomatic genital herpes infection [56].…”

“…Thus, HLA-B*44 expression may positively correlate with low prevalence of HSV-2 infection known in European populations. For instance, 35.7% of North Ireland [93, 124, 147] and 32% of English [167] populations that have low frequency of herpes infection express the HLA-B*44 allele. HLA-B*44 is the most frequent allele of the HLA-B locus in French [112-115] Spanish [168] and Basques Caucasoid populations [169, 170], which have some of the lowest rates of herpes infection and disease.…”