MICA and MICB allele assortment in Finland

Abstract

Genetic variation in the MICA and MICB genes located within the major histocompatibility complex region has been reported to be associated with transplantation outcome and susceptibility to autoimmune diseases and infections. Only limited data of polymorphism in these genes in different populations are available. We here report allelic variation at 2‐field resolution and the haplotypes of the MICA and MICB genes in Finland (n = 1032 individuals), a north European population with historical bottleneck and founder effects. Altogether 24 MICA and 18 MICB alleles were found, forming 70 estimated MICA‐MICB haplotypes. As compared to other populations frequency differences were found, for example, MICA*010:01 was found to be at an allele frequency of 0.133 in Finland which is higher than in other European populations (0.021–0.077), but close to Asian populations (0.151–0.220). Three novel alleles with amino acid change are described. The results demonstrate a relatively high level of polymorphism and population differences in MICA and MICB allele distribution.

18th International HLA and Immunogenetics Workshop: Report on the SNP‐HLA Reference Consortium (SHLARC) component

“…As a result, today's population in Finland is a genetic patchwork and a genetic outlier in Europe 20,21 . The Finnish MHC is characterized by a reduced allele pool and enrichment of alleles and haplotypes regarding HLA and MIC genes 22–24 . Several HLA haplotypes, common in Finland but rare or missing in other European populations, have been identified and named as Finnish enriched rare (FER) haplotypes 23 …”

“…20,21 The Finnish MHC is characterized by a reduced allele pool and enrichment of alleles and haplotypes regarding HLA and MIC genes. [22][23][24] Several HLA haplotypes, common in Finland but rare or missing in other European populations, have been identified and named as Finnish enriched rare (FER) haplotypes. 23 F I G U R E 2 Accuracy depends of the population origin, which reflects HLA allele diversity.…”

MICA-specific nanobodies for diagnosis and immunotherapy of MICA+ tumors

“…The specific targeting of MICA + cells make them suitable candidates as diagnostic markers, as building blocks for nanobody-drug conjugate, or for the construction of chimeric antigen receptors ( 29 , 30 , 37 , 61 ). MICA and MICB are highly polymorphic in the human population, with hundreds of alleles for MICA and MICB identified so far ( 46 , 62 ). The isolated nanobodies were tested for recognition of the MICA alleles *002, *008 and *009, and MICB allele *005.…”

Accurate multi-population imputation of MICA, MICB, HLA-E, HLA-F and HLA-G alleles from genome SNP data

“…The number of different MICA, MICB, HLA-E and HLA-G alleles present in the data set were 22, 19, 4 and 23, respectively. Two novel alleles of MICA and two of MICB were detected (67), as well as four novel alleles of HLA-G (01:L14P, 01:01:01:g.173G/A, 01:01:01:g.188C/T and 01:01:01:g.636C/T). HLA-G 3’ UTR and 5’ UTR haplotypes were also inferred from the SNP genotype data using as a reference the 3’ UTR and 5’ UTR haplotypes as defined by Castelli et al (68).…”