Abstract
Introduction: HLA typing is a critical tool in both clinical and research applications at the individual and population levels. Benchmarking studies have indicated HLA-HD as the preferred tool for accurate and comprehensive HLA allele calling. The advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized genetic analysis by providing high-throughput sequencing data. This study aims to evaluate, using the HLA-HD tool, the HLA typing content of whole exome, whole genome, and HLA-targeted panel sequence data from the consanguineous population of Arab ethnicity, which has been underrepresented in prior benchmarking studies. Methods: We utilized sequence data from family trios and individuals, sequenced on one or more of the whole exome, whole genome, and HLA-targeted panel sequencing technologies. The performance and resolution across various HLA genes were evaluated. We incorporated a comparative quality control analysis, assessing the results obtained from HLA-HD by comparing them with those from the HLA-Twin tool to authenticate the accuracy of the findings. Results: Our analysis found that alleles across 29 HLA loci can be successfully and consistently typed from NGS datasets. Clinical-grade whole exome sequencing datasets achieved the highest consistency rate at three-field resolution, followed by targeted HLA panel, research-grade whole exome, and whole genome datasets. Discussion: The study catalogues HLA typing consistency across NGS datasets for a large array of HLA genes and highlights assessments regarding the feasibility of utilizing available NGS datasets in HLA allele studies. These findings underscore the reliability of HLA-HD for HLA typing in underrepresented populations and demonstrate the utility of various NGS technologies in achieving accurate HLA allele calling.