OBJECTIVETo analyze the genetic polymorphism, distribution of haplotypes, common and well-documented (CWD) and rare alleles of high-resolution HLA-A, B and DRB1 alleles by analysis from hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) donors in Jiangsu Han Chinese.

METHODSPCR-sequence-based typing and PCR-sequence specific oligonucleotide probes methods were applied for HLA-A, B and DRB1 high-resolution genotyping of 3238 unrelated healthy donors of hematopoietic stem cells in Jiangsu branch of Chinese National Marrow Donor Program registry.

RESULTS46 alleles of HLA-A,85 HLA-B and 51 HLA-DRB1 locus were found. The frequencies of the most common alleles were A * 11:01 (16.52%), B * 13:02 (11.60%) and DRB1 *07:01 (15.78%). That of the most common haplotype was A * 30: 01-B * 13: 02-DRB1 * 07: 01 (8.87%). 40 alleles of HLA-A,77 alleles of HLA-B, and 47 HLA-DRB1 alleles of HLA-DRB1 were CWD, which account for 99. 8% of total number of samples, and a few rare alleles not reported in Chinese population were found.

CONCLUSIONThe results of high-resolution, CWD and rare alleles showed the characteristics of HLA distribution in Jiangsu Han population, which may be useful for finding HLA matched unrelated donors, as well as for HLA correlation with population genetics and disease association studies.