Human platelet antigens: typing by PCR using sequence-specific primers andtheir distribution in blood donors resident in Wales

We developed and validated HPA-1 to HPA-6 typing by PCR-SSP using a combina tion of established, modified and newly designed sequence-specific primers. We confirmed that the PCR primer mixtures functioned under the same PCR co nditions as our standard HLA-A, -B, -C, -DR, -DQ PCR-SSP typing system. Thi s allows concurrent testing for both HPA and HLA specificities and is there fore the system of choice for both clinical and large-scale blood donor pan el HPA and HLA typing by PCR-SSP. Test validation included typing a populat ion of blood donors living in Wales. These HPA frequencies were consistent with those of other European Caucasoid populations. HPA-4b and -6b were abs ent and HPA-5b, which shows some frequency variation, had a phenotype frequ ency of 18.9% (allele frequency 0.0973), being close to that of the Dutch ( 19.7%) and Austrian (20.4%) populations and almost twice that found in Finn s (10.0%). HPA genotype frequencies showed a good fit to Hardy-Weinberg equ ilibrium, further supporting the validity of our typing method.