Determination of HLA-A, B, and DRB1 gene polymorphism in Monba ethnic group of Xizang Autonomous Region, China

Objective: To investigate the HLA-A, B, DRB1 allele polymorphism in Monba ethnic population of Xizang Autonomous Region. Methods: HLA-A, B, DRB1, DNA types in 47 unrelated Monba ethnic healthy individuals from the Xizang Autonomous Region of China were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction-based reverse line-strip sequence specific oligonucleotide hybridization. Based on the HLA-DRB1 alleles frequencies of 11 other ethnic groups in China, a molecular phylogenetic tree was constructed by the Neighbor-Joining (NJ) method. Results: Twenty-three alleles were detected for HLA-A, 39 for HLA-B, and 33 for HLA-DRB1. HLA-A * 1101, A * 2402, A * 02011, A * 0206, HLA-B * 3802, B * 4001, B * 4002, B * 51011, HLA-DRB1 * 12021, DRB1 * 0403, DRB1 * 0701, DRB1 * 1201 were the most common alleles. The most frequent alleles were HLA-A * 1101(0.2128), HLA-B * 3802(0.1064), and HLA-DRB1 * 12021(0.0851). Conclusion: The HLA loci are highly polymorphic in Monba population of Xizang Autonomous Region. Compared with other ethnic groups in China, the Monba ethnic group is close to Tibetan ethnic group.