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The frequencies of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I and class II specificities and haplotypic associations were determined in 1940 unrelated donors from Castilla y León and compared with other Iberian, Mediterranean and European populations. Specificities were determined using polymerase chain reaction reverse sequence-specific oligonucleotide or polymerase chain reaction sequence-specific primer techniques. In the analysis, 19, 29 and 13 specificities were found for HLA-A, -B and -DRB1, respectively, with HLA-A*02 (26%), - A*01 (11%), - B*44 (16%), - B*35 (10%), - DRB1*07 (16%) and - DRB1*13 (14%) showing the highest frequencies. In addition, 10 common HLA-A-B-DRB1 haplotypic associations were observed, A*01-B*08-DRB1*03 (3%) and A*29-B*44-DRB1*07 (3%) being the most frequent ones. These findings indicate that the population of Castilla y León is genetically equidistant from the Portuguese and other Spanish populations and shares a common origin with other Iberian populations, in which European, Mediterranean and North African genetic components are present; this is in agreement with the historical and genetic background of the population. These data contribute to a better understanding of the genetic structure of the Iberian Peninsula and provide a healthy control population from our region that should be useful for the study of disease associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system could play an essential role in multiple myeloma (MM) disease control. This report describes the results comparing HLA-DRB1 phenotypic frequencies in 181 MM patients (53 smoldering/indolent MM and 128 symptomatic MM patients) and healthy individuals. Higher DRB1*01 phenotypic frequencies were found in the smoldering patients compared with symptomatic MM patients (38% vs 14%, P = 0.001) and with the healthy individuals (38% vs 22%, P = 0.01). Additionally, higher DRB1*07 phenotypic frequencies were found in symptomatic MM compared with control population (38% vs 28%, P = 0.01). The present data suggest that HLA-DRB1*01 individuals may have a better ability to efficiently present myeloma-related antigens to immunocompetent cells, which could favor a better immune response against the tumor. This would translate into a more appropriate disease control associated with more indolent disease and prolonged survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]