LETTER TO THE EDITOR Haptoglobin genotypic distribution (including Hp0 allele) and associated serum haptoglobin concentrations in Koreans

Background: Haptoglobin polymorphism is associated with the prevalence of infections, autoimmune diseases, cardio-vascular diseases, and other disorders. Congenital hapto-globin deficiency is associated with anaphylactic transfusion reactions in anhaptoglobinaemic patients with antihaptoglo-bin antibody. Aims: To investigate haptoglobin genotypic distribution (including the Hp0 allele) and associated serum haptoglobin concentrations in Koreans. Methods: Five hundred and nine healthy Korean adults were randomly selected. Two methods were used: haptoglobin genotyping based on a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) system that exploited the structural difference of the Hp1 and Hp2 alleles, and another PCR method that detected haptoglobin gene deletion by amplification of the junctional region of the Hp0 allele. Serum haptoglobin concentrations were measured by nephelometry. Results: The haptoglobin genotypes of 509 subjects were a