HLA‐A*02 repertoires in three defined population groups from North and Central India: Punjabi Khatries, Kashmiri Brahmins and Sahariya Tribe. (27th December 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Saxena, Abhishweta; Sharma, Gaurav; Tyagi, Shweta; Mourya, Manish; Coshic, Poonam; Tiwari, Pramod K.; Mehra, Narinder K.; Kanga, Uma
• Is Part Of: HLA. Volume 93:Number 1(2019)
• Page Start: 16
• Page End: 23
• Publication Date: 2018-12-27
• Subjects: admixture -- diversity -- ethnicity -- frequency -- HLA‐A*02 repertoire -- Indians -- Kashmiri -- PCR‐rSSO -- Punjabi -- Sahariyas; Immunogenetics -- Periodicals; Antigens -- Periodicals; HLA histocompatibility antigens -- Periodicals; 571.9645
• DOI: 10.1111/tan.13447
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2059-2302

Abstract

Abstract : The allelic family of HLA‐A*02 with a repertoire of approximately 1022 alleles represents the predominant and most heterogeneous group at the HLA‐A locus. This remarkable diversity signifies its evolutionary relevance. Its population‐specific diversity is attributed to environmental factors and pathogen pressure and can be harnessed in biology and medicine, particularly in disease association and for HLA‐based vaccination approaches. We therefore investigated the HLA‐A*02 repertoire in two North Indian caste populations, viz Punjabi Khatries (PK, N = 250), Kashmiri Brahmins (KB, N = 160) and a Central Indian tribe Sahariya (ST, N = 100) using Luminex‐based high‐resolution rSSO method. When required, results were confirmed with high‐resolution PCR‐SSP and/or next‐generation sequencing (NGS). In the three populations evaluated, HLA‐A*02 was observed with an overall high phenotypic/allelic frequency, however, A*02 repertoire differed among them. A total of six alleles were observed ( A*02:01, *02:03, *02:05, *02:06, *02:07 and *02:11 ) in the caste groups, compared with four (except *02:05 and *02:07 ) in the tribals. Our striking observation was the high occurrence of A*02:11 at the repertoire level (80.6% in ST, 39% in PK, 31.8% in KB). Globally, this allele is rare, observed with low frequencies in limited ethnic groups. The primordial A*02:01 allele, representative A*02 allele in most ethnicities was observed as the second predominant allele (PK = 27.3%, KB = 31.8% and ST = 11.9%). Extremely high occurrence of A*02:11 in ST may be representation of ancient Austro‐Asiatic genetic pool. In caste populations, the observed A*02 repertoire may be a consequence of natural selection and/or admixture from different populations.