HLA class II polymorphism in a Gabonese Banzabi population

The HLA class II typing of 167 unrelated Gabonese individuals from the Banzabi ethnic group was assessed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The most frequent alleles at each locus were DRB1*1501-3 (0.31), DQA1*0102 (0.50), DQB1*0602 (0.42) and DPB1*0402 (0.29). The estimation of the haplotype frequencies as well as the observation of the segregation of several haplotypes using additional HLA typing of relatives, revealed that the three-locus haplotype DRB1*1501-3-DQA1*0102-DQB1*0602 was found at the highest frequency (0.31) among these individuals. This haplotype is not typically African and has already been described in Caucasians, but its presence at high frequency is exclusive to populations originating from Central Africa, and can thus be designated as a particular genetic marker of these populations.