Microsatellites in the HLA region: 1999 update

In this third update of a series of reviews on microsatellites in the HLA region or close to it we report 155 microsatellites, corresponding to 51 newly described markers, in addition to the 103 reported in the 1997 and 1998 reviews. This work is based both on a literature review and on data publicly available in molecular databases on the internet (http://www.gdb.org; http://bioinfo.weizmann.ac.il/cards/; http://cedar.genetics.soton.ac.uk/) up to September 1999. Thanks to numerous studies involving major histocompatibility complex (MHC) microsatellites, documentation on HLA region is proposed, including information on microsatellites described through MHC sequence projects and presenting documented location, polymorphism and amplification condition, together with additional information on previously described microsatellites when available and information on data in the literature regarding gametic associations between HLA region loci and alleles and microsatellite alleles. As basic information are presented various documents: i) a table showing the following characteristics of the 155 microsatellites: name, localisation, polymorphism, primer sequences, reference; ii) an integrated map of some HLA region genes and the 155 microsatellites considered; and iii) a summary table on HLA and microsatellites association patterns. In addition, an overview on HLA microsatellite analysis application is presented, with a special focus on disease genetics studies in the form of recent references where the use of microsatellites of the HLA region was a key tool. This review aims at providing the human immunogenetics community with a tool for helping optimal choice of microsatellites to be used in various studies.