Identification of HLA-A*0249 and confirmation of A*2615

A new HLA-A*02 allele, A*0249, and the confirmatory sequence of A*2615 are here reported. Both alleles were detected by irregular patterns during routine molecular typing. A*0249 showed two mismatches with A*02011 in exon 3 at positions 538 and 539, changing amino acid 156 from leucine to arginine. Remarkable was a mismatch in exon 4, at position 779, where the C of A*0201 was changed to A in A*0249. As A*0209 has the same substitution, A*0249 may have arisen from A*0209. The A*2615 allele was identical to A*2601 in exons 2 and 3 except for a single nucleotide difference at nucleotide position 180, changing codon 36 from phenylalanine to leucine. This is a unique amino acid change, as in all the class I alleles a phenylalanine was identified at this position.