Determination of NA gene frequencies in the Spanish population by polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers

The granulocytic antigens NA1 and NA2 are two allelic gene products of the Fc gamma RIIIB gene. These antigens are frequently targets of granulocytic- specific allo-antibodies and auto-antibodies that cause neutropenias. Diffe rent distributions of these antigens have been found in population studies. In our study, the genomic DNA of 345 healthy, unrelated Spanish individual s was typed for NA1 and NA2 using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with sequ ence-specific primers (SSP). The gene frequencies found in the Spanish popu lation were 0.29 for NA1 and 0.71 for NA2. Flow cytometry immunotyping was also carried out in 20 of these samples, and an exact correlation was obser ved among the results. The gene frequencies determined in our study are sim ilar to those reported in other Caucasian populations. The null phenotype r eported in other serological studies was not found. This typing system can be used in population studies instead of serological tests as a more rapid, simple and reproducible method.