TAP1 and TAP2 are two ABC transporter genes located within the class II region of the human MHC. Their protein products form a heterodimer whose function is to transport peptides from the cytoplasm into the endoplasmic reticulum. This study was performed to examine the polymorphism of TAP genes and the distribution of HLA-TAP haplotypes in the Korean population through family analysis.

The subjects used in this study were 50 healthy Korean families consisting of 233 individuals. TAP1 (codons 333 and 637) and TAP2 (codons 379, 565, 577, 651, 665, and 687) typings were carried out by the PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method. HLA-DRB1 and DQB1 genotyping results from a previous study were used for HLA-TAP haplotype analysis.

The number (gene frequency) of TAP1 and TAP2 alleles detected were 3 for TAP1 (A 81.5%, B 17.0%, and C 1.5%) and 8 for TAP2 (A1 32.0%, A2 12.5%, B 34.0%, Bky2 6.5%, C 7.0%, D 3.0%, E 4.5%, and G 0.5%). Eleven TAP1-TAP2 haplotypes were observed with frequency≥1%, among which 4 haplotypes (A-B, B-A1, A-Bky2, and C-E) showed weak but significant positive linkage disequilibrium (P<0.05). When DRB1-DQB1 haplotypes were extended to TAP1 and TAP2 loci, much diversification of haplotypes was observed: 19 different DRB1- DQB1 haplotypes formed 58 different haplotypes extended to TAP1 and TAP2 loci. These results add more evidence to the view that recombination hotspot is present within and around TAP gene region.

The allele frequencies of TAP1 and TAP2 genes and the distribution of TAP1-TAP2 and HLA-TAP haplotypes were studied in Koreans based on a family study.