HLA-DOA belongs to the HLA class II alpha chain paralogues. HLA-DOA forms a heterodimer with HLA-DOB. The heterodimer, HLA-DO, is found in lysosomes in B cells and regulates HLA-DM-mediated peptide loading on MHC class II molecules. In comparison with classical HLA class II molecules, this gene exhibits very little sequence variation, especially at the protein level. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]