Diversity of HLA-B*35 alleles and haplotypes among Croatians.

OBJECTIVES

Investigation of HLA-B*35 subtypes and haplotypes among Croatians.

METHODS

4000 randomly selected unrelated donors from Croatian Bone Marrow Donor Registry were typed for HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 by PCR-LabType®SSO method.

RESULTS

Four different B*35 alleles (*35:01, *35:02, *35:03, *35:08) were found. Three of them were with similar frequencies as in other European Caucasians, while HLA-B*35:03 was two times more frequent in our population. Predicted haplotypes were also in accordance with present data from other populations.

CONCLUSIONS

This study should be of benefit in the unrelated haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) program. It should facilitate the recipient-donor matching and the selection of a suitable population for further searches.