HLA polymorphism in three indigenous populations of Sabah and Sarawak

Abstract

One hundred and fifty-eight Kadazan, Iban and Bidayuh individuals registered with the Malaysian Marrow Donor Registry were typed for human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A, HLA-B and HLA-DR. Six, seven and eight HLA-A alleles as well as 13, 15 and 16 HLA-B alleles were detected in the Kadazan, Bidayuh and Iban, respectively. The most common HLA-A allele in all three groups was HLA-A*24 with a frequency of 0.456, 0.490 and 0.422 in the Kadazan, Bidayuh and Iban, respectively. The most common HLA-B allele detected in the Kadazan was HLA-B*40 with a frequency of 0.333; for the Bidayuh and the Iban it was HLA-B*15 with a frequency of 0.460 and 0.275, respectively. The HLA-DR allele with the highest frequency in the Kadazan was HLA-DR*1502 with a frequency of 0.500. In the Iban and the Bidayuh, HLA-DRB1*1202 was the most common DR allele with frequencies of 0.235 and 0.310, respectively. The two most common haplotypes for the Kadazan are A*34-B*38-DR*1502 and A*24-B*40-DR*0405, whereas for the Bidayuh they are A*24-B*15-DR*1602 and A*24-B*35-DR*1202 and for the Iban they are A*34-*B15-DR*1502 and A*24-B*15-DR*1202.

Susceptibility to aplastic anemia is associated with HLA-DRB1*1501 in an aboriginal population in Sabah, Malaysia

“…The Kadazandusun population in Sabah provides unique insight into the effect of genetic background on AA incidence. They are an aboriginal population with one of the highest frequencies of HLA DR15 in the world [25]. This is probably caused by founder effects and genetic drift.…”

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma among the Bidayuh of Sarawak, Malaysia: history and risk factors (Review)

“…Studies of HLA allele frequencies are essential for anthropology and understanding human migration patterns ( 50 ). In 2009, a study encompassing the Bidayuh pinpointed the frequent detection of alleles A*3401 and B*1521 ( 51 ).…”

“…Instead, suppression of immune response presented by HLA alleles may enable immune evasion of EBV-infected NPC cells ( 23 ), hence permitting NPC cell survival. According to an HLA polymorphism study, the genetic distance between Bidayuh and Iban was relatively short, with a value of 0.00986, explaining the Iban's genetic predisposition to NPC being similar to the Bidayuh ( 50 ). Studies of the genetic linkage of the Bidayuh and Iban especially in regard to immune responses warrants further attention.…”

A New Analysis of Population History in Sabah and Sarawak

“…However, an initial detailed search in a Web of Science literature for the population genetic research in Sabah and Sarawak returned several reports on human leukocyte antigens, short tandem repeat, single nucleotide polymorphism and mitochondrial DNA work on one or more Austronesian population groups, including Kadazan, Bajau, Murut, Iban, Bidayuh and Melanau (e.g. see Xing et al, 2009;Dhaliwal et al, 2010;Simonson et al, 2011). The population data from these studies reveals genetic fractions that are comparable to those of other Austronesian populations in ISEA which was later supported by the genomewide SNP data collected from several ethnic groups (Bidayuh, Dusun, Rungus and Murut) in Sarawak and Sabah (Lipson et al, 2014, Deng et al, 2015, and Yew et al, 2018a.…”