HLA Supertypes

Abstract

The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles are extremely polymor- phic among ethnic population (Black, Caucasoid, Oriental, Hispanic, Mixed race, Pacific Islander, American Indian, Australian aboriginal), and the peptide-binding specificity varies for different alleles in a combinatorial manner. However, it has been suggested that majority of alleles can be covered within few HLA supertypes, where different members of a supertype bind similar peptides, yet exhibiting distinct repertoires. The grouping of HLA alleles into different categories of supertypes has profound use in the understanding of antigenic peptide selection, degeneration, and discrimination during T cell-mediated immune response. A complete knowledge of this phenomenon finds utility in epitope design for the development of HLA-based vaccines and immuno-therapeutics. A number of methods are available to group HLA alleles into supertypes for overlapping peptide-binding function and these methods are discussed.