RESEARCH ARTICLE
Kurds HLA Genes: Its Implications in Transplantation and Pharmacogenomics
Ali Amirzargar1, §, Diego Rey2, §, Ester Muñiz2, Jose Palacio-Grüber2, Behrouz Nikbin1, Hosein Nicknam1, Farideh Khosravi3, Hamidreza Joshghan4, Cristina Areces2, Mercedes Enríquez-de-Salamanca2, Narcisa Martinez-Quiles2, José Manuel Martín-Villa2, Antonio Arnaiz-Villena*, 2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2015Volume: 2
First Page: 43
Last Page: 47
Publisher ID: MEDJ-2-43
DOI: 10.2174/1874220301401010043
Article History:
Received Date: 3/11/2014Revision Received Date: 17/1/2015
Acceptance Date: 22/7/2015
Electronic publication date: 31/8/2015
Collection year: 2015

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
HLA genes (class I and II) have been studied in a Kurd population from Iran (North West towns of Saqqez and Baneh, close to Irak border). Kurds speak an Iranian language. HLA Kurd profile has been compared with those of Central Asians, Siberians, Mediterraneans and other worldwide populations; a total of 7746 chromosomes were used for computer comparisons. Both Neighbor-joining and correspondence genetic analyses place Kurds in the Mediterranean population cluster, close to Iranians, Europeans and Caucasus populations (Svan and Georgian). New extended HLA haplotypes are described, being A*02:01-B*35:01-DRB1*01:01-DQB1*05:01 and A*24:02-B*18:09-DRB1*11:01- DQB1*03:01 the most frequent ones; other Kurd extended haplotypes are also found in Azeris and Palestinians. This research work may be useful for: 1) future Iranian Kurds transplantation regional programs, 2) HLA pharmacogenomics in order to practise a preventive Medicine and drug side effects, and 3) Epidemiology of HLA-associated diseases in Kurds.