Distributions of HLA class I alleles and haplotypes in Northern Han Chinese

Abstract Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I allelic genotypes were determined in 105 unrelated Han ethnic individuals inhabiting the northern China area. A total of 19 HLA‐A alleles, 49 HLA‐B alleles and 24 HLA‐Cw alleles were detected. Through the analyses of two and three loci haplotypes of HLA‐A, HLA‐B, and HLA‐C loci, 11 HLA‐A‐B‐Cw haplotypes, 19 HLA‐A‐B haplotypes, 18 HLA‐A‐Cw haplotypes, and 24 HLA‐B‐Cw haplotypes with the frequencies of higher than 0.01 were revealed. The Nei's genetic distance (GD) was estimated, and the NJ dendrogram showed that Northern Han had a higher GD to Southern Han (0.233) than those to the Korean (0.138) or other Northern ethnic groups, suggesting that Northern Han had more mixed blood with the ethnic groups originally in Northeast Asia. Our results provide useful information on the further study of evolution and relationships of Chinese ethnic groups and disease association in terms of HLA class I genes.