The treatment of choice for certain immunodeficiency syndromes and hematological disorders is bone marrow transplantation (BMT). The success of BMT is influenced by the degree of HLA compatibility between recipient and donor. However, aberrant expression of HLA sometimes makes it difficult, if not impossible, to determine the patient's HLA type by standard serological and cellular techniques. W...

Objective(s): HTLVI-1 is the first human retrovirus with limited endemic regions in the world. The epidemiological studies have shown that the genetic background and immune response to the virus have a significant role in HTLV-I-associated diseases.  Among the genes are involved in HTLV-I infection, the role of human leukocytes antigen (HLA) have been studied in different population. In the pre...

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) gene region encodes a set of HLA molecules functioning critical roles in immune response. Each HLA gene locus shows extensive polymorphism with ever-increasing number of alleles. The HLA nomenclature system for alleles defined by DNA typing was first established in 1987 and has been revised several times. Recently, it has been revised again with a new frame that ca...

The occasional familial occurrence of idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (NS) points to a genetic predisposition. Reports on associations with certain HLA class II antigens support this hypothesis. In order to define the immunogenetic background of NS more precisely, HLA class II allele frequencies in 161 children with NS were studied by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) typing. The pa...

Until the advent of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in the 90’s of the last century, the only efficient means to find out whether an offspring has inherited a genetic disease from a couple who are carriers of the defective gene is through prenatal diagnosis (PND). However, if the fetus is found to have the genetic disease, presently the only available treatment is to abort the fetus, an...