HLA-DR and -DQ genotyping by PCR-SSO in Shanghai Chinese

The polymorphism of HLA class II (HLA-DRB1, -DQA1 and -DQB1) were investigated in 89 Shanghai Han Chinese using polymerase-chain reaction amplification and oligonucleotide (PCR-SSO) typing. Of the 43 DRB1 alleles tested, 24 were observed. DRB1*0901 (16.85%), *0803 (9.55%), *1202 (9.55%) and *1501 (12.92%) were most frequent and account for the high frequencies of DR9, DR8, DR5 and DR2 specificities in this population. The alleles DRB1*0101, *0102 and *1001 had very low frequencies. Among the 8 DQA1 and 13 DQB1 alleles tested, only DQA1*0401 and DQB1*0402 were absent. DQA1*0301, and DQB1*0301 and *0303 were among the most common alleles of the two loci respectively. Unusual DRB1-DQA1-DQB1 haplotypes were observed and a DRB1 "new" allele was suggested.