STRATEGY FOR DEFINITION OF DR DQ HAPLOTYPES IN THE 4AOHW CELL PANEL USING NONCODING SEQUENCE POLYMORPHISMS/

Our previously described intron-based DQA1-typing method provides 11 a llelic and suballelic groups, including the eight alleles encoded at t he second exon. Concurrent testing for the presence of the DRB3, DRB4, and DRB5 loci and the Rsa I pattern of the DRw52 group simplifies the typing requirements for allele assignment at the highly polymorphic D RB1 locus. The DRB1-allele-shortlisting process relies on known DR/DQ haplotypes. In addition to reducing the testing requirements for defin itive DRB1 allele assignment, this strategy allows inference of the DR /DQ haplotype and assists in recognition of novel and/or unusual assoc iations.