Allelic diversity of HLA class II genes may help maintain humoral immunity against infectious diseases. We investigated the relative contribution of specific HLA class II alleles, haplotypes and genotypes on the variation of antibody responses to a variety of common pathogens in a cohort of 800 adults representing the general Arab population. We found that classical HLA class II gene heterozygosity confers a selective advantage. Moreover, we demonstrated that multiple HLA class II alleles play a synergistic role in shaping the antibody repertoire. Interestingly, associations of HLA-DRB1 genotypes with specific antigens were identified. Our findings suggest that HLA class II gene polymorphisms confer specific humoral immunity against common pathogens, which may have contributed to the genetic diversity of HLA class II loci during hominine evolution.

中文翻译：

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人类白细胞抗原II类基因多样性可将抗体库调整为常见病原体

HLA II类基因的等位基因多样性可能有助于维持针对传染病的体液免疫。我们调查了800名代表普通阿拉伯人口的成年人群中，特定的HLA II类等位基因，单倍型和基因型对多种常见病原体的抗体应答变化的相对贡献。我们发现经典的HLA II类基因杂合性赋予了选择优势。此外，我们证明了多个HLA II类等位基因在塑造抗体库中起着协同作用。有趣的是，鉴定了HLA-DRB1基因型与特定抗原的关联。我们的发现表明，HLA II类基因多态性赋予了针对常见病原体的特定体液免疫力，这可能有助于人类进化过程中HLA II类基因座的遗传多样性。