P063 What’s new on allelefrequencies.net (AFND)

Abstract

The Allele Frequencies Net Database (AFND) provides frequency data on various immunogenetic genes including HLA and KIR. At present, data from 1500 populations is available. New initiatives have recently been applied as follows. 1. Short population reports One problem with data reported for the HLA and KIR genes is that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to obtain primary data. This is virtually impossible to compare data from different years, and types that appear to be unambiguous can become ambiguous under new IMGT/HLA versions. Therefore, a collaboration between AFND and the journal Human immunology (HI) has been established, whereby individuals submit genotype data of their population cohort, in addition to frequency and demographic data, to AFND. The genotype data are checked and uploaded to AFND, and the submitter is then able to submit a Short Population Report (SPR) to HI; SPRs follow a set format as described in HI (http://bit.ly/1XcF8Ui). 2. Data quality categories AFND has categorised the populations already submitted with regards to typing resolution, number of individuals in the population and summing of allele frequencies. Those populations whose allele frequencies sum to 1, have typing resolution of at least 2 fields, and more than 50 individuals have been categorised as Gold Standard. This allows researchers to identify AFND data that are of high quality. AFND also now shows maps that indicate those areas of the world where no data is available and where no data of Gold standard is available. 3. Rare HLA alleles AFND has continually kept a record of observations of rare alleles from several sources, including projects at previous International Workshops. This is continuing in the 17th Workshop, whereby DNA from individuals with Rare alleles will be NGS typed. Individual Labs may do this typing themselves or have it performed in another lab. This Workshop project will also attempt to harmonize the Common and Well-Documented HLA alleles catalog and the AFND Rare Alleles project.