Characterization of the polymorphisms of dog MHC genes and intra- and interbreed DLA haplotype diversity

Abstract

The domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) is one of the main target animals for small animal clinical medicine. Consolidation of the polymorphism information of Dog MHC (Dog leukocyte antigen: DLA) genes is necessary for discovering disease-associations and developing advanced veterinary medicine of dogs such as regenerative medicine by allo-transplantation of somatic or hematopoietic stem cells and cancer immunotherapy. We have so far conducted polymorphism analysis of the DLA genes in 829 dogs of 59 breeds collected in Japan. In this review, we outlined the current information of the DLA polymorphisms including our research findings such as haplotype structures of the DLA class I loci, estimation of the DLA haplotypes composed of the DLA class I and class II loci, and characteristics of intra- and inter-breed DLA diversity.