HLA polymorphisms in Cabo Verde and Guiné-Bissau inferred from sequence-based typing

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A, -B, and -DRB1 polymorphisms were examined in the Cabo Verde and Guiné-Bissau populations. The data were obtained at high-resolution level, using sequence-based typing. The most frequent alleles in each locus was: A*020101 (16.7% in Guiné-Bissau and 13.5% in Cabo Verde), B*350101 (14.4% in Guiné-Bissau and 13.2% in Cabo Verde), DRB1*1304 (19.6% in Guiné-Bissau), and DRB1*1101 (10.1% in Cabo Verde). The predominant three loci haplotype in Guiné-Bissau was A*2301-B*1503-DRB1*1101 (4.6%) and in Cabo Verde was A*3002-B*350101-DRB1*1001 (2.8%), exclusive to northwestern islands (5.6%) and absent in Guiné-Bissau. The present study corroborates historic sources and other genetic studies that say Cabo Verde were populated not only by Africans but also by Europeans. Haplotypes and dendrogram analysis shows a Caucasian genetic influence in today's gene pool of Cabo Verdeans. Haplotypes and allele frequencies present a differential distribution between southeastern and northwestern Cabo Verde islands, which could be the result of different genetic influences, founder effect, or bottlenecks. Dendrograms and principal coordinates analysis show that Guineans are more similar to North Africans than other HLA-studied sub-Saharans, probably from ancient and recent genetic contacts with other peoples, namely East Africans.