[Sequencing analysis and identification of a novel HLA-B(*)40:162 allele]

The aim of this study was to identify a novel HLA-B allele in Chinese population. The HLA typing of bone marrow donors was performed by PCR-SBT. The ambiguous novel HLA allele was confirmed with GSSP and single stranded SBT method. The result indicated that there was a sample, the sequence of which was different from all alleles in the HLA databases. The sequence analysis showed that it differed from the closet matching allele B(*)40:06:01 in one nucleotide substitution, 272 C>T in Exon 2, which resulted in an amino acid change from Serine (Ser) to Phenylalanine (Phe) at codon 63. It is concluded that the novel allele has been identified and is named HLA-B(*)40:162 by the WHO Nomenclature Committee.