HLA in kinship determinations among Haitian immigrants

Area of Science:

• Immunogenetics
• Population Genetics
• Forensic Serology

Background:

• Immigration to the United States involves verifying familial relationships.
• Immunogenetic markers can be used to establish or exclude biological kinship.
• Previous studies have utilized red blood cell antigens for kinship analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the efficacy of immunogenetic methods in excluding kinship among prospective immigrants.
• To compare the discriminatory power of red cell antigen typing versus human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing.
• To determine the combined utility of red cell and HLA typing for kinship exclusion.

Main Methods:

• Serotyping of red blood cells for ABO, Rh, and MN antigens.
• Leukocyte typing for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) A, B, and C locus antigens.
• Analysis of 258 prospective immigrants from Haiti alleging first-degree relationships.

Main Results:

• Kinship was definitively excluded in 4.2% of parent-child cases.
• HLA typing excluded kinship in 87.4% of demonstrated exclusions, compared to 16.9% for red cell typing.
• Combined red cell and HLA typing provided a 91.3% prior probability of excluding parent-child relationships.

Conclusions:

• Immunogenetic analysis, particularly HLA typing, is a powerful tool for excluding kinship in immigration contexts.
• Red cell typing remains valuable, especially in cases where HLA markers are uninformative.
• The combination of red cell and HLA typing significantly enhances the accuracy of kinship exclusion, reducing potential fraud and identifying potential half-sibling relationships.