HLA‐linked genetic markers in Chinese and other Oriental populations

Abstract

The polymorphic variants of the HLA-linked genetic markers Bf, C2, C4 and GLO-I were studied in three mongoloid populations. Analysis of linkage dis-equilibrium between these markers and HLA-A, B, C and DR antigens was carried out on test results from 140 unrelated Chinese individuals. The phenotypes BfS and GLO-2 were found at significantly higher frequencies than in Caucasians. BfS was associated with B12 in Japanese but not in Chinese. A single individual with the rare Bf variant S1 was found. No C2 deficient individuals were observed. The C2C (common) allele occurred at a gene frequency of 0.949 and the more basic allele C2B at 0.039. The acidic variant, C2A, was observed at a frequency of 0.011 and appeared to be associated with BfF. Eighty-nine per cent of the Chinese were phenotypically C4FS. In contrast to Bf and C2, each of which is coded for by codominant alleles at a single genetic locus, C4 is coded for by two genes, C4F (Rodgers) and C4S (Chido). The C4F locus allele, C4F1 (extra fast), was strongly associated with HLA-B17, as has been found in other populations, but a new association of the C4S locus deficiency allele, C4so (Ch-), with B17 was also observed. All HLA-B17;C4so haplotypes were BfS position. As has been previously found in Caucasian populations, individuals of the C4F phenotype (i.e. genotypically FsoFso) were all found to be Chido negative. The frequencies of the various HLA-linked genetic markers, however, as much as the frequencies and associations of the HLA antigens themselves, distinguish these populations from other ethnic groups.

The HLA system in the prevalent Mexican Indian group: the Nahuas

“…A fascinating topic is still the mystery of the original ancestors of the Nahuas. In a precarious attempt to answer this question, we reviewed Chinese (Mineter et al 1981), Viet-namese (Tran et al 1978) Filipino and Malay (Chan et al 1979, Korean (Albert et al 1973) and Japanese (Baur & Danilovs 1980) as indicative of some of the many Mongoloid groups. It is clear from the gene frequencies that the HLA profile in each population is different, and according to the distribution, most of the frequent antigens in Malay and Filipino are also the prevailing antigens in Nahuas.…”

“…The haplotypes were assembled from an open population, and we are aware that the information may have a limited value. Nevertheless it is interesting that some of them having a significant A in our results, are concordant with those found in Chinese (Mineter et al 1981) A2-B35, A2-Bw39, and Cw4-Bw35 or in Japanese (Baur & Danilovs 1980), Bw39, Bw39-Cw4, Bw62-Cw3, B60-Cw3 and Aw24-B7, A2-B35, Aw24-B35, A2-B60, A2-BwSZCwx. Again, a strikingly similar linkage disequilibrium exists in Nahuas and Japanese.…”

HLA Antigens among Chinese in Taiwan: Association of Cw1 and Cw3 on the Same Haplotype

“…The pheno type frequencies reported on overseas Chinese living in New York are also shown [Miniter et al, 1981]. The observed frequencies in this study correlated well with those of previous studies, with the ob servation that A2, A9, A ll, A19 and A33 of the A antigen series, B5, B13, B15, B16, BI7, B22, B40 and Bw60 of the B series and Cwl, Cw3 and Cw4 of the C series were frequently encountered in Chinese.…”

“…This paper deals almost exclusively with the first and second groups of people. The HLA profiles of Chinese in this study are very similar to those of previous reports [Huang, 1983, Miniter et al, 1981Chan et al, 1979;Payne et al, 1973;Ting et al, 1971], The percentage of blank alleles at the HLA-A, B and C loci was found to be quite high, especially at the HLA-C locus. An individual was found who was nega tive for B locus antigens and also for the public antigens Bw4 and Bw6.…”

HLA polymorphisms in a Han Chinese population of Sichuan

“…There are more than 100 million inhabitants living in this province and the majority of them is Han Chinese. As yet there has been little information concerning the distribution of HLA polymorphisms of Chinese (Jaraquemada et al 1984, Chan et al 1979, Miniter et al 1981) and this is not from the Sichuan population.…”