Anthropological studies based on the highly polymorphic gene, human leukocyte antigen (HLA), provide useful information for bone marrow donor registry, forensic medicine, disease association studies, as well as infertility treatment, designing peptide vaccines against tumors, and infectious or autoimmune diseases. The aim of this study was to determine HLA-A and HLA-B allele frequencies in 100 unrelated Lak/lᴂk/individuals from Lorestan province of Iran. Finally, we compared the results with that previously described in Iranian population. Commercial HLA-Type kits from BAG (Lich, Germany) company were used for determination of the HLA-A and HLA-B allele frequencies in genomic DNA, based on polymerase chain reaction with sequence specific primer (PCR-SSP) assay. The differences between the populations in distribution of HLA-A and HLA-B alleles were estimated by chi-squared test with Yate's correction. The most frequent HLA-A alleles were *24 (20%), *02 (18%), *03 (12%) and *11 (10%), and the most frequent HLA-B alleles were *35 (24%), *51 (16%), *18 (6%) and *38 (6%) in Lak population. HLA-A*66 (1%), *74(1%) and HLA-B*48 (1%), *55(1%) were the least observed frequencies in Lak population. Our results based on HLA-A and HLA-B allele frequencies showed that Lak population possesses the previously reported general features of Iranians but still with unique.

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Background Pollen is one of the most common allergens that cause respiratory allergies worldwide. Pollen grains from poplars have been reported as important sources of pollinosis in many countries. Objective The aim of the present study was to determine the molecular and immunochemical characterization of Pop n 2, a novel allergen of Populus nigra (P nigra) pollen extract. Methods In this study, the pollen extract of P nigra was analysed by SDS‐PAGE, and the allergenic profile was determined by IgE immunoblotting and specific ELISA using the sera of twenty allergic patients. The coding sequence of Pop n 2 was cloned and expressed in the Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) using plasmid the pET‐21b (+). Finally, the expressed recombinant Pop n 2 was purified by affinity chromatography. Results Pop n 2 belongs to the profilin family with a molecular weight of approximately 14 kDa. Pop n 2 is the most IgE‐reactive protein (about 65%) in the P nigra pollen extract. The cDNA sequencing results indicated an open reading frame 396 bp that encodes 131 amino acid residues. The results of ELISA and Immunoblotting assays showed that recombinant Pop n 2 could react with the IgE antibody in patients' sera, like its natural counterpart. Conclusion Our data revealed that Pop n 2 is a significant allergen in the P nigra pollen extract. Moreover, we observed that the recombinant Pop n 2 produced by the pET‐21b (+) vector in the E colisystem acts as its natural counterpart.

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