Allele Name Translation Tool and Update NomenCLature: software tools for the automated translation of HLA allele names between successive nomenclatures

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Abstract
In this brief communication, we describe the Allele Name Translation Tool (antt) and Update NomenCLature (uncl), free programs developed to facilitate the translation of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) allele names recorded using the December 2002 version of the HLA allele nomenclature (e.g. A*01010101) to those recorded using the colon‐delimited version of the HLA allele nomenclature (e.g. A*01:01:01:01) that was adopted in April 2010. In addition, the antt and uncl translate specific HLA allele‐name changes (e.g. DPB1*0502 is translated to DPB1*104:01), as well as changes to the locus prefix for HLA‐C (i.e. Cw* is translated to C*). The antt and uncl will also translate allele names that have been truncated to two, four, or six digits, as well as ambiguous allele strings. The antt is a locally installed and run application, while uncl is a web‐based tool that requires only an Internet connection and a modern browser. The antt accepts a variety of HLA data‐presentation and allele‐name formats. In addition, the antt can translate using user‐defined conversion settings (e.g. the names of alleles that encode identical peptide binding domains can be translated to a common ‘P‐code’), and can serve as a preliminary data‐sanity tool. The antt is available for download, and uncl for use, at www.igdawg.org/software.