HLA-A*2416: a new allele of the HLA-A19 lineage

We here report on a new HLA-A19 allele (A*2416) found in a German kidney recipient. Serological class I typing revealed HLA-A11,19 without clear definition of the A19 split antigen. As with serology, polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based typing also revealed inconclusive results. We therefore sequenced the gene from the 5' flanking region through the 3'-end of exon 4 of this allele after haplotype-specific PCR amplification. The sequence analysis revealed a new HLA-A allele which is identical to A*3101 with the exception of the 3' half of exon 2 which is identical to the common A9 alleles. The phylogenetic analysis constructed with the nearest-neighbor algorithm and based on exons 1-4 or introns 1-3 clearly indicated, that A*2416 belongs unequivocally to the A19 lineage.