HLA-G UTR Haplotype Conservation in the Malian Population: Association with Soluble HLA-G

Federico Carlini (1) , Karim-Frédéric Traore (2) , Nissem Cherouat (3) , Pierre L. Roubertoux (4) , Stéphane Buhler (5) , Martì Cortey (1) , Sophie Simon (1, 3) , Ogobara Doumbo (2) , Jacques Chiaroni (1, 3) , Christophe Picard (1, 3) , Julie Di Cristofaro (1, 3)

1 ADES - Anthropologie bio-culturelle, Droit, Ethique et Santé
2 Department of Epidemiology of Parasitic Diseases [Bamako, Mali]
3 EFS - Alpes-Méditerranée - Etablissement Français du Sang - Alpes-Méditerranée
4 Département de génétique médicale [Hôpital de la Timone - APHM]
5 UNIGE - Université de Genève = University of Geneva

The HLA-G molecule plays an important role in immunomodulation. In a previous study carried out on a southern French population our team showed that HLA-G haplotypes, defined by SNPs in the coding region and specific SNPs located in 5'URR and 3'UTR regulatory regions, are associated with differential soluble HLA-G expression (sHLA-G). Furthermore, the structure of these HLA-G haplotypes appears to be conserved in geographically distant populations. The aim of our study is to confirm these expectations in a sub-Saharan African population and to explore additional factors, such as HLA-A alleles, that might influence sHLA-G expression. DNA and plasma samples were collected from 229 Malians; HLA-G and HLA-A genotyping were respectively performed by the Snap Shot® method and by Luminex™ technology. sHLA-G dosage was performed using an ELISA kit. HLA-G and HLA-A allelic and haplotypic frequencies were estimated using an EM algorithm from the Gene[Rate] program. Associations between genetic and non genetic parameters with sHLA-G were performed using a non-parametric test with GRAPH PAD Prism 5. Our results reveal a good conservation of the HLA-G UTR haplotype structure in populations with different origins and demographic histories. These UTR haplotypes appear to be involved in different sHLA-G expression patterns. Specifically, the UTR-2 haplotype was associated with low sHLA-G levels, displaying a dominant negative effect. Furthermore, an allelic effect of both HLA-G and HLA-A, as well as non genetic parameters, such as age and gender possibly linked to osteogenesis and sexual hormones, also seem to be involved in the modulation of sHLA-G. These data suggest that further investigation in larger cohorts and in populations from various ethnical backgrounds is necessary not only to detect new functional polymorphism in HLA-G regulatory regions, but also to reveal the extent of biological phenomena that influence sHLA-G secretion and this might therefore have an impact on transplantation practice.

Domaines: Génétique des populations [q-bio.PE]; Génétique humaine

Federico Carlini, Karim-Frédéric Traore, Nissem Cherouat, Pierre L. Roubertoux, Stéphane Buhler, et al.. HLA-G UTR Haplotype Conservation in the Malian Population: Association with Soluble HLA-G. PLoS ONE, 2013, 8 (12), pp.e82517. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0082517⟩. ⟨hal-00940846⟩