Association of HLA-A, -B, -DRB1 alleles and haplotypes with acute lymphoblastic leukemia among ethnic Hans from northern China / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To assess the association of polymorphisms of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A, -B, -DRB1 alleles and haplotypes with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) among ethnic Hans from northern China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 170 ALL patients (patient group) and 1241 unrelated healthy bone marrow donors (control group) were genotyped at a high-resolution level using polymerase chain reaction-sequence-based typing (PCR-SBT), sequence specific oligonucleotide probes (SSO) and sequence specific primer (SSP) typing methods. Frequencies of HLA alleles and haplotypes were calculated with Arlequin 3.5.2 software. The distribution of genes and haplotypes were analyzed through a case-control study, and the odd ratio (OR) of ALL was also calculated.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>By cha-square test and correction, an increased frequency of B*13:01 and B*40:02 among ALL patients was discovered in comparison with the controls (7.35% vs. 4.63%, P=0.030; 2.94% vs. 1.45%, P=0.042), whereas B*35:03 and B*46:01 were less frequent compared with the controls (0.29% vs. 1.69%, P=0.048; 4.41% vs. 7.82%, P=0.025). Although the above discrepancies were not statistically significant by Bonferroni correction, within DRB1*15 group, the frequency of DRB1*15:01 in ALL patients was significantly greater than that of the controls (16.18% vs. 10.19%, Pc'=0.041) and was correlated with ALL (OR=1.70, 95% CI:1.24-2.33). Nineteen haplotypes identified in the ALL patients had a frequency greater than those of the controls. Of these, 11 were absent from the control group and were correlated with ALL.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The association of HLA-A, -B, -DRB1 polymorphisms with ALL was determined among patients from northern Chinese Hans. The correlation between DRB1*15:01 and ALL suggested that DRB1*15:01 may be a susceptibility gene for ALL with its particular haplotypes.</p>

Identification of a novel T421C mutation of α-1,3-N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase allele responsible for an A variant / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the molecular basis of an individual featuring weak A phenotype of ABO blood group system.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Serologic investigations, serum transferases activity assay and absorption-elution test were carried out to identify the ABO blood group. The 7 exons and flanking introns of ABO glycosyltransferase gene were amplified with polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The products were sequenced bidirectinally following enzyme digestion. Haplotypes of exons 6 and 7 of the ABO gene were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A weak A antigen was identified on red blood cells of the proband. Eight heterozygous sites in exons 6 and 7 (261delG 297A/G, 421C/T, 467C/T, 646T/A, 681G/A, 771C/T, 829G/A) of the ABO gene were identified. Based on haplotype analysis, one allele was determined as O02, while a novel mutation 421T>C was identified in another allele, which resulted in the amino acid change Ser141Pro of the A glycosyltransferase.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Above results suggested that amino acid substitutions resulted from a novel mutation 421T>C of the ABO gene may decrease the enzymatic activity and result in the weak A phenotype.</p>

Study on the killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor gene polymorphisms in leukemia patients and their siblings who have same HLA-A/B/DR typing / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

Objective To investigate the relationship between killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors(KIR)and HLA by distribution of KIR gene in leukemia patients and their siblings who have same HLA-A/B/DR typing.Methods KIR genotypes were detected by PCR-SSP on 78 patients and their siblings who have same HLA-A/B/DR typing.Results There were 48.72%in 78 patients who had same KIR genotypes with their siblings while the 44.87%patients had different KIR genotypes with their siblings.There was no difference in frequency between patients and their siblings(P＞0.05).There were no differences in frequency among chronic myelocytic leukemia(CML),non acute lymphoblagtic leukemia(NALL)and acute lymphoblagtie leukemia(ALL)but the frequency of KIR2DS4 in CML was higher than others.Condusion The KIR gene and HLAⅠ antigen are heredity independently and relatively stable.The factor of disease has little effect on KIR gene.

Identification of a novel HLA-A~*0290 allele by sequencing-based typing / 中国输血杂志

G in exon 2. This results in an amino acid change from His to Asp at codon 74. Conclusion The novel allele has been confirmed as a new HLA allele and it is officially named HLA-A*0290 by WHO Nomenclature Committee for Factors of the HLA System in Oct. 2005.