Dr. LI Jianping, a researcher working for the Liaoning Blood Center, has discovered an allele of human white blood cell antigen. The new allele has been officially named HLA-* 2451 ( AY904343 for its reception number in the gene database) by a committee for naming human white blood cell antigens under the World Health Organization. Dr. LI said  the committee had informed him that the new gene sequence would be published in several renowned medical journals, including Tissue Antigen, Human Immunology, and European Journal of Human Genetics.  

Up to the early 2005, scientists in the world have discovered more than 1000 alleles of human white blood cell antigens, of which 70% were by US scientists, and less than 10 alleles by Chinese scientists.

The new finding was made when screening the blood specimen collected from a hematopoietic stem cell donor in Liaoning Province. The donor is aged around 20. It needs further study to determine if the gene is the result of mutation, or that of an inherited line. Future study will also investigate how many Chinese are carrying such gene.