HLA Antigens in Nadars a Native Dravidian Caste Group of Tamil Nadu, South India

Asian populations reported. Two Locus haplotype analyses revealed that A11-B5, A1-B17, A3-B44, A24-B51, B5-Cw9, B44-Cw1, DR4-DQ2 and DR6-DQ1 were significant haplotypes among the positive linkage disequilibrium haplotypes. Where as A1-B5, B5-Cw1 and DR1-DQ2 were significant haplotypes among the negative linkage disequilibrium haplotypes. The haplotypes A3-B44, A24-B51, B44-Cw1 and DR6-DQ1 observed in Nadars were unique when compared to other Indian populations reported in literature. The observed antigen frequencies and linkage disequilibrium in Nadars suggest the influence of genetic drift caused by selection, geography and culture with a lesser degree of admixture. Further the study reveals that the Nadar population of India cannot be considered as a single panmictic population with reference to genetic characteristics, which may have a clinical relevance in unrelated donor selection for allogenic Bone marrow transplantation in India