Cretan HLA genetics supports its early Minoan culture as a link between North Africa and Europe.

HLA studies in Crete show that this population is related to North Africans and also Iberians. This may be a reflection of a common prehistoric first Europeans relationships with North Africans and drying Saharan emigration after 10,000 years BC; it may be specifically represented by a primitive and early cult to the bull in both Cretan (Minoan) and Iberian populations. In the present study, unrelated Cretans representing different Island parts have been studied for class II HLA-DRB1 and -DQB1 alleles. The most frequent ones were HLA-DRB1*11:01 and HLA-DRB1*07:01 and HLA-DQB1*03:01 and DQB1*05:01. Also, the Cretan HLA class II haplotype HLA-DBR1*11:01-DQB1*03:01 had the highest frequency and is also common to other Mediterraneans, including Iberians. In addition, DRB1*07:01-DQB1*02:01 and HLA-DRB1*04:02-DQB1*03:02 Cretan haplotypes are shared with North Africans (the latter with Algerians, Tunisians and Moroccans). In summary, Crete was one of the first European classic cultures (Minoan) which was probably an early link, like Iberia, between North Africa /Sahara and Europe,also supported by genetic results.

HLA-DMB alleles and haplotypes in Ecuador (Cuenca) Amerindians: Importance for HLA and disease studies.

HLA-DMB allele frequencies and HLA-DBM-DRB1-DQB1 extended haplotypes were studied for the first time in Amerindians (Cuenca city area, Ecuador). It was found that most common extended haplotypes gathered the most frequent HLA-DRB1 Amerindian alleles. HLA-DMB polymorphism studies may be important to uncover HLA and diseases pathogenesis and also in an extended HLA haplotype frameshift. HLA-DM molecule has a crucial role together with CLIP protein in HLA class II peptide presentation. HLA extended haplotypes including complement and non classical genes alleles are proposed to HLA and disease studies.

HLA genetic study in Iran Saqqez-Baneh Kurds: no genetic trace of Aryan invasions in Anatolian Turks and Kurds is found.

Kurds are living at Middle East region comprising several countries (38 million people) and also have emigrated to Asia, Europe and America. Kurds from Iran have been HLA typed in the present work from Saqqez and Baneh towns, Kordestan province, Iran. Origin of Kurds is considered autochthonous from Anatolia and surrounding mountains :they have been referred as "the mountain people" by classic Persian, Greek and Roman authors. Present day Turks are also autochthonous from Anatolia, but they were not recognized by classical authors as living in the mountains and they speak a language of Asian origin that was imposed to Anatolia by a "elite" invasion without a noticeable high Asian gene input. Most frequent class I and class II HLA alleles found in Iranian Kurds population are: HLA-A*24:02, A*02:01 and HLA-B*35:01, and HLA-DRB1*11:01, DRB1*03:02 and HLA-DQB1*03:01; also, most frequent HLA extended haplotypes from this Iran Kurdish sample are not shared with Iranians but with Mediterranean, Turkish and Caucasus people. This is confirmed by Neighbour-Joining and correspondence analysis studied together with the corresponding populations. Finally, our studies show that both Kurds and Turks are genetically original from Anatolian Peninsula and surrounding countries and that an apparent Asian genetic or Aryan invasion does not exist in the area.

Class II HLA in Georgia Caucasus Tbilisi Georgians and their Mediterranean ancestry: The Usko Mediterranean languages.

Georgia (or Sakartvelo in its own language) is a South Caucasus Mts. country with its easternmost part is enigmatically named Iberia, like the Iberian Peninsula, which may refer to rivers "Kura" and "Ebro" or their valleys respectively. Most of their inhabitants speak Georgian which is included within Dene-Caucasian group and Usko-Mediterranean subgroup of languages. The latter includes Basque, Berber, ancient Iberian-Tartessian, Etruscan, Hittite, Minoan Lineal A and others. In the present paper, HLA class II -DRB1 and -DQB1 alleles has been studied and extended haplotypes calculated. Most frequent haplotypes are also of Mediterranean origin (i. e.: (A*02-B*51)-DRB1*11:01-DQB1*03:01, (A*02-B*51)-DRB1*13:01-DQB1*06:03, or (A*24-B*35)-DRB1*01:01-DQB1*05:01) and DA genetic distances show that closest world populations to Georgians are Mediterraneans. Georgians also show common extended haplotypes ((A*02-B*51)-DRB1*11:01-DQB1*03:01, (A*02-B*13)-DRB1*07:01-DQB1*02:01 and (A*03-B*35)-DRB1*11:01-DQB1*03:01) with Svan people, a secluded population in North Georgia mountains. We can conclude that Georgians belong to a very old Mediterranean substratum according to both linguistics (Usko Mediterranean languages) and HLA genetics.