The relative frequencies of HLA-DRB1*01 alleles in the major US populations

The frequencies of alleles in the HLA-DRB1*01 family were determined in eac h of five US populations from a database of 82,979 individuals. Individuals typed as DR1 (or DRB1*01) comprised between 7.6%-21.3% of the individuals in each population group. Fifty-nine DR1 individuals were randomly selected from each group and subjected to high-resolution DNA typing by polymerase chain reaction using sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes. DRB1*0101 wa s the most common allele in the Caucasian, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Nati ve American groups while the DRB1*0102 allele was found in the majority of African Americans and Hispanics. DRB1*0103 was present at a similar frequen cy in all populations. DRB1*0104, DRB1*0105, and DRB1*0106 alleles were not observed.