Allele frequencies and haplotypic associations defined by allelic DNA typing at HLA class I and class II loci in the Japanese population

HLA class I and class II allelic genotypes were determined in 371 unrelated individuals and 309 members of 81 families inhabiting the central Japan area. A total of 20 HLA-A alleles, 16 HLA-Cw alleles, 38 HLA-B alleles, 27 HLA-DRB1 alleles, 15 HLA-DQB1 alleles and 12 HLA-DPB1 alleles were detected. By the two-, three-, four-, five- and six-locus allelic association analyses extracted from the HLA-A to -DPB1 locus, 26 HLA-Cw-B haplotypes, 25 HLA-DRB1-DQB1 haplotypes, 42 HLA-Cw-B-DRB1 haplotypes, 37 HLA-Cw-B-DRB1-DQB1 haplotypes, 29 HLA-A-Cw-B-DRB1-DQB1 haplotypes and 21 HLA-A-Cw-B-DRB1-DQB1-DPB1 haplotypes with the frequencies of higher than 0.005 were recognized. Among 19 HLA-B alleles with the high allele frequencies (above 0.007), 9 HLA-B alleles, B*0702, B*1301, B*3701, B*3901, B*4006, B*4403, B*5201, B*5901 and B*6701 were found to be tightly associated with single HLA-Cw alleles. Most of HLA-DRB1 alleles showed strong associations with single HLA-DQB1 alleles, but DRB1*0802 and DRB1*1401 were associated with two different DQB1 alleles. Extended haplotypes carrying infrequent class I alleles with the allele frequencies of lower than 0.007 were defined by family studies. Gene frequencies and haplotypic associations within the entire HLA classical loci elucidated at the high resolution (four-digital) allelic level will provide useful information on anthropology, marrow donor registry, legal medicine and disease-association studies.