Haptoglobin genotyping of Vietnamese: Global distribution of HPdel, complete deletion allele of the HP gene

Abstract The haptoglobin (HP) gene deletion allele (HP del ) is responsible for anhaptoglobinemia and a genetic risk factor for anaphylaxis reaction after transfusion due to production of the anti-HP antibody. The distribution of this allele has been explored by several groups including ours. Here, we studied the frequency of HP del in addition to the distribution of common HP genotypes in 293 Vietnamese. The HP del was encountered with the frequency of 0.020. The present result suggested that this deletion allele is restricted to East and Southeast Asians. Thus, this allele seems to be a potential ancestry informative marker for these populations.