High Resolution HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-C Allele Frequencies in Romanian Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donors

The HLA genes are associated with various autoimmune pathologies, with the control of the immune response also being significant in organs and cells transplantation. The aim of the study is to identify the HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-C alleles frequencies in the analyzed Romanian cohort. We performed HLA typing using next-generation sequencing (NGS) in a Romanian cohort to estimate class I HLA allele frequencies up to a six-digit resolution. A total of 420 voluntary donors from the National Registry of Voluntary Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donors (RNDVCSH) were included in the study for HLA genotyping. Peripheral blood samples were taken and brought to the Fundeni Clinical Institute during 2020-2021. HLA genotyping was performed using the Immucor Mia Fora NGS MFlex kit. A total of 109 different alleles were detected in 420 analyzed samples, out of which 31 were for HLA-A, 49 for HLA-B, and 29 for HLA-C. The most frequent HLA-A alleles were HLA-A*02:01:01 (26.11%), HLA-A*01:01:01 (12.5%), HLA-A*24:02:01 (11.67%), HLA-A*03:01:01 (9.72%), HLA-A*11:01:01, and HLA-A*32:01:01 (each with 8.6%). For the HLA-B locus, the most frequent allele was HLA-B*18:01:01 (11.25%), followed by HLA-B*51:01:01 (10.83%) and HLA-B*08:01:01 (7.78%). The most common HLA-C alleles were HLA-C*07:01:01 (17.36%), HLA-C*04:01:01 (13.47%), and HLA-C*12:03:01 (10.69%). Follow-up studies are ongoing for confirming the detected results.