Distribution of HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 alleles in Lak population of Iran

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes are the most polymorphic loci in the human genome and encode the highly polymorphic molecules critically involved in immune responses. Anthropological studies based on highly polymorphic HLA genes provide useful information for bone marrow donor registry, forensic medicine, disease association studies, as well as designing peptide vaccines against tumors, and infectious or autoimmune diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 allele frequencies in 100 unrelated Lak individuals from Lorestan province of Iran. Finally, we compared the results with those previously described in four other Iranian populations. Commercial HLA-Type kits were used for determination of the HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 allele frequencies. Differences between populations in the distribution of HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 alleles were estimated by χ2 test with Yate’s correction and Fisher’s exact test. The most frequent HLA-DRB1 alleles were *1103 = 4 (23%), *1502 (9.5%), *0701 (9%), *0301 (8.5%), *1101 (7.5%) and *1501 (6%) while HLA-DQB1*0301 (40%), *0201 (15%), *0502 (10.5%), *0303 (10%), *0602 = 3 (9.5%), and *0501 (7.5%) were the most frequent alleles in Lak population. HLA-DRB1*0409, *0804, *1102, *1112, *1405, and HLA-DQB1*0503, *0604 were the least observed frequencies in Lak population. Our results based on HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 allele frequencies showed that the Lak population possesses the previously reported general features of the Lur and Kurd populations but still with unique, decreased or increased frequencies of several alleles. In other words, the Lak population is close to Lurs Khorramabadi and Kurd but far from Lurs Kohkiloyeh/Boyerahmad and Bakhtiari.