Report from the Anthropology/Human Diversity Component
International Histocompatibility Working Group (IHWG)

July 25, 2000 Dear colleagues, We at the Anthropology / Human Genetic Diversity Component of the 13th IHWG have been busy for the last few months. Reagents and samples are being distributed to participating laboratories, and we continue to recruit new labs with interesting population samples into this project. Many of your labs are currently carrying out QC typings in preparation for the data generation phase of the workshop. The purpose of this update is to answer the questions that many of you have raised over the last two months, as well as to keep you appraised of some of the new developments that have occurred in the IHWG. As usual, the progress of our project is documented on the IHWG web pages (http://www.ihwg.org/components/diversr.htm). Please take a few minutes to review these web pages if you have any questions about what we have accomplished so far. Workshop and Conference Dates The 13th International Histocompatibility Workshop and Conference (IHWC) meetings have been rescheduled. As you know, the original plan was to meet in June 2001, less than a year from now. However, there have been significant delays in obtaining research funding to support the activities of the 13th IHWC Organizing Committee, the generation of new reagents, acquisition and distribution of selected cells and DNA, and the development of a central database. This funding is forthcoming in the next few months. The time remaining until June 2001 is too short to allow participating laboratories adequate time to fully engage in the different projects. With this in mind, the dates of the Workshop and Conference meetings have been delayed by approximately one year. It would be a great disservice to the HLA community to start an ambitious series of research projects with insufficient time for individual laboratories to prepare and complete their work. For this reason, the 13th IHWC meetings have been rescheduled for mid-May 2002. The dates and location for the Workshop and Conference are now May 12-16, 2002 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and May 18-22, 2002, in Seattle, Washington, USA. Even though the IHWC meetings are now almost two years away, we will need all the time available between now and 2002 to complete the very substantial amount of work required. Given this change in the date of the 13th IHWC meetings, the Anthropology / Human Genetic Diversity component has adjusted its schedule as follows:

Revised Schedule

SSO probes and primers for class I and class II	Available as of July, 2000
Reverse lineblot typing systems for A, B, and C	Available as of July, 2000
Reverse lineblot test results on reference QC panel sent from participating lab to Workshop	Starting by end of July, 2000
Feedback regarding preliminary typing of ref panel to labs	Starting by end of July, 2000
Deadline for the submission of Available Data to the IHWG central database	Submit by end of September, 2000
Typing of population samples and submission of data to IHWG central database	Runs from August, 2000 - March, 2001
Analysis of data by the Biostatistics Core	September, 2000 - May, 2002

Availablility of Typing Reagents Both SSOP and Reverse Line Strip reagents are available for distribution to participating laboratories. Reverse Line Strip reagent protocols and hit-tables are now available on the IHWG web site (http://www.ihwg.org/protocols/protocol.htm#rls). Submission of Available Data HLA genotyping data which has been generated via non-13th IHWG methods can be submitted to the central database as 'Available Data'. Since this data is already generated, all that is necessary is that it be properly formatted, as described on the IHWG web site (http://www.ihwg.org/shared/database.htm#Anthropology). The deadline for the submission of this Available Data is September 30, 2000. This will give the biostatistics core time to develop their software using real data. Ambiguous allele designations should be indicated using a series of slashes to seperate the ambiguous portions of the allele designation. For example, if an allele cannot be resolved beyond the level where you can determine that it is either a B* 2703, *27052, *27053, or *2710 allele, it should be indicated as a B*2703/052/053/10 allele. Anonymity of Sample Data As one of the measures protecting the confidentiality of the original sample donors, the unique IDs of all samples must be coded for anonymity, irregardless of the method used in the generation of the genotyping data, when they are entered into the central database. This means that it must be impossible for anyone to link the unique ID of a sample in the database with a specific person. If your laboratory keeps any information permitting the linkage of a particular sample ID with a specific person, it is the responsibility of your laboratory to maintain the confidentiality of that information, and to ensure that it is not submitted to the central database. Human Subjects Use Authorization Letters of Certification for Humans Subjects Use Authorization (available http://www.ihwg.org/components/IRBLetter.doc) must be submitted to the Anthropology Component when data is submitted to the central database. Letters may be mailed to: Henry Erlich, Anthropology Component/IHWG Department of Human Genetics Roche Molecular Systems 1145 Atlantic Avenue Alameda, CA 94501-1145, USA Publication of Workshop Data Prior to the Meeting The IHWG has adopted an official policy on the publication of data generated as a part of the 13th IHWC, which follows. A. Goals The IHWG has primary responsibility for the organization and oversight of research plans; recruitment of participating investigators, development and distribution of shared resources, establishment of a common central database, and the dissemination of information and research findings. To this end participating investigators are encouraged to proceed expeditiously with the reporting and publication of results. B. Early publication Publication of data prior to the `13th International Workshop Meeting (Victoria, BC, May 2002) is acceptable under the following conditions: 1)   the data is generated exclusively within the investigators laboratory, 2)   the investigator obtains documented permission from collaborating laboratories or from laboratories contributing data, 3)   data is not obtained from the central database without permission from the ASPC (address requests to the IHWG ASPC, c/o Dr. J. Hansen). Assuming the above conditions are met, there is no prior review required by the IHWG, however the principle investigator or senior author should inform the IHWG Coordinating Center about all publications. C. Acknowledgements. Investigators using 13th IHWG reagents or biological materials for local investigator-initiated studies should acknowledge the IHWG in all publications and public presentations. Publications should also include an acknowledgment of the R24 NIH shared resource grant that supports the IHWG core facilities (see below for sample acknowledgment). Sample acknowledgment: "We acknowledge the support of the International Histocompatibility Working Group (IHWG) and the National Institutes of Health shared resource grant no. R24 AI 49213." IHWG Discussion Board A Discussion Board (http://www.ihwg.org/Discus/messages/board-topics.html) has been set up on the IHWG web site to provide discussions of procedural, scientific, and technical issues as well as other topics in a community forum. While anyone can post a message to the Discussion Board anonymously, only board accounts can choose to activate email notification when a new post is made in a specified topic. Board accounts have been established for almost all Anthropology Component participants. E-mail us with questions or comments. As always, best regards, Henry A. Erlich, Ph.D., Chair and Steven J. Mack, Ph.D. Anthropology/Human Diversity Component International Histocompatibility Working Group ROCHE MOLECULAR SYSTEMS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OAKLAND RESEARCH INSTITUTE back to Human Diversity/Anthropology Component Overview