HLA Allele and Haplotype Frequencies in Three Urban Mexican Populations: Genetic Diversity for the Approach of Genomic Medicine

Genetic variability defends us against pathogen-driven antigens; human leucocyte antigens (HLA) is the immunological system in charge of this work. The Mexican mestizo population arises mainly from the mixture of three founder populations; Amerindian, Spaniards, and a smaller proportion of the African population. We describe allele and haplotype frequencies of HLA class I (- and ) and class II (- and - ), which were analyzed by PCR-SSP in Mexican mestizo from three urban populations of Mexico: Chihuahua-Chihuahua City ( = 88), Mexico City-Tlalpan ( = 330), and Veracruz-Xalapa ( = 84). The variability of the allele HLA class I and class II among the three regions of Mexico are in four alleles: (36.39%), (16.04%), (17.33%), and - (31.47%), these alleles have been previously described in some indigenous populations. We identified 5 haplotypes with a frequency >1%: , , , and . Also, the haplotype was identified in Tlalpan and Xalapa regions. Haplotype was found only in Tlalpan and Chihuahua. In the Xalapa region, the most frequent haplotype was . These alleles and haplotypes have been described in Amerindian populations. Our data are consistent with previous studies and contribute to the analysis of the variability in the Mexican population.