ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To identify a novel HLA allele in Chinese population.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A new HLA-B allele was initially detected by an usual PCR-SSP and PCR-SSOP in routine typing HLA allele. Sequence-based typing (SBT) was used to identify and analysis the difference between the new allele and HLA-B 4409 allele.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The HLA-B exon 3 nucleotide sequence of the novel allele was different from all other known alleles. The allele had 3 nucleotides replaced of the closest matching B 4409 allele at nt538(G>C), nt539(A>T) and nt540 (C>G) in exon 3, resulting in an amino acid change from D(GAC) to L(CTG) at codon 180.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>A novel HLA allele was confirmed by the SBT and it was officially designated as HLA-B 4446 by WHO Nomenclature Committee for Factors of the HLA System in September,2005.</p>