Use of ApoB' hyper variable region in studying mixed chimerism and maternal contamination in North Indian populations

ApoB3' hyper variable region is one of the highly polymorphic genetic marker and reveals a high degree of allelic variation in different populations therefore; it can be a useful marker for different clinical tests in which individual differences at DNA level form the basis of detection. In the present study we compared Apo B3 HVR with other 28 STR markers at allele frequency level, heterozygosity, polymorphism information content (PIC) and power of exclusion. Our results indicated a high degree of heterozygosity, PIC and power of exclusion for Apo B3 HVR. These criteria lead us to investigate this marker for different purposes like detection of maternal contamination in chorionic villus samples and chimerism studies after the engraftment of bone marrow in bone marrow transplantation patients. The utility of this marker has been discussed in comparison of other markers.