Polymorphisms of HLA-A and -B genes in the Kyrgyz population

Polymorphisms of HLA-A, and -B antigens were investigated in the Kprgyz pop ulation living in the northeastern part of Central Asia. Serological typing for HLA-A and -B loci was performed in 157 healthy unrelated blood donors. The frequent HLA-A antigens were A2 (29.2%), A24 (20.6%), and A1 (10.4%). For HLA-B loci, B51 (10.6%), B17 (9.1%), B13 (8.7%), and B35 (8.5%) were pr edominant. Multidimensional scaling and phylogenetic analysis were performe d based on the gene frequencies of HLA-A and -B. In the multidimensional sc aling for 24 worldwide populations, Kyrgyz situated itself close to other C entral Asian populations. In the phylogenetic tree, Kyrgyz were included in the cluster of Central Asian, while they located close to the European clu ster. Four HLA-A-B haplotypes, A2-B blank (5.7%), A2-B13 (4.7%), A24-B51 (3 .9%), and A2-B17 (3.7%) were observed at frequencies of more than 3%. These haplotypes, except for A2-B blank have been observed in European and/or As ian populations. The present results well agree with the hypothesis, which has been proposed in morphological studies, that Kyrgyz have been derived f rom not only Mongoloid but also Caucasoid ancestors.