HLA polymorphism in the Murcia population (Spain): In the cradle of the archaeologic Iberians

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) study in Murcian individuals was performed in order to provide information of their historical origins and relationships with other Iberian and Mediterranean populations. HLA class I and class II alleles were determined in 173 unrelated Caucasoid donors from Murcia Regi on in the Southeast of Spain by serologic and DNA based polymerase chain re action (PCR) typing. Class I antigen and class II allele frequencies of our series were not very different to those found in Spaniards. The analysis o f extended haplotypes showed that the three haplotypes most frequent in ou population were respectively, A29-B44-Cwb-DRB1*0701-DRB4*0101-DQA1*0201-DQB 1*0202, A1-B8-Cw7-DRB1*0301-DRB3*0101-DQA1*0501-DQB1*0201 and A30-B18-Cw5-D RB1*0301-DRB3* 0101-DQA1*0501-DQB1*0201. They were followed by A26-B38-Cwb- DRB1*1301-DRB3*0202-DQA1*0103-DQB1*0603, which could point to an ancestral relationship between Murcian and Portuguese Iberian populations, and by A2- B7-Cw7-DRB1*1501-DRB5*0101-DQA1*0102-DQB1*0602 also present in all Iberian Peninsula populations. Allelic frequencies, populations distance dendrogram and correspondence analysis were used to study the relationships between M urcian and other populations. The closest relation was observed with Spania rds and Portuguese, followed in decreasing order by French, Italians, Alger ians, Germans, Catalans, Basques, Cretans, Sardinians, and Greeks. Thus, Mu rcian population seems to belong to the European genetic pool, revealing a lesser genetic distance with the North Africans and the rest of populations from the Iberian Peninsula. Human Immunology 62, 910-921 (2001). (C) Ameri can Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, 2001. Published by E lsevier Science Inc.