HLA class I diversity in Kolla Amerindians

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I polymorphism was studied within a pop ulation of 70 unrelated Kolla Amerindians from the far northwest of Argenti na close ro the Bolivian border. The results indicate that the HLA-A, -B, a nd -C alleles typical of other Amerindian populations also predominate in t he Kolla. These alleles belong to the following allele groups: HLA-A*02, *6 8, *31, *24, HLA-B*35, *15, *51, *39, *40, *48, and Cw*01, *03, *04, *07, * 08, and *15. For the HLA-A locus, heterogeneity was seen for HLA-A*02 with A*0201, *0211, and *0222; and for A*68 with *68012 and *6817, the latter be ing a novel allele identified in this population. Analysis of HLA-B identif ied heterogeneity for all Amerindian allele groups except HLA-B*48, includi ng the identification of the novel B*5113 allele. For HLA-C heterogeneity w as identified within the Cw*07, *04, and *08 groups with Cw*0701/06, *0702, *04011 *0404, *0803, and *0809 identified. The most frequent "probable" ha plotype found in this population was B*3505-Cw*04011. This study supports p revious studies, which demonstrate increased diversity at HLA-D compared wi th HLA-A and -C. The polymorphism identified within the Kolla HLA-A, -B, an d -C alleles supports the hypothesis that HLA evolution is subject Cu posit ive selection for diversity within che peptide binding sire. (C) American S ociety for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, 2001, Published by Elsevi er Science Inc.