HLA typing results show a father with alleles (8,12) and (17,22) and a mother with (7,12) and (13,27). What is the possible outcome for their child regarding HLA inheritance?

The correct answer suggests that children may inherit any combination of the alleles from both parents, which is consistent with the principles of Mendelian inheritance and specifically the inheritance of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes, such as HLA.

Each parent contributes one of their two alleles at each locus. In this scenario, the father has four alleles: 8, 12 at one locus and 17, 22 at another locus. The mother has alleles: 7, 12 at one locus and 13, 27 at another locus. Therefore, for the first locus, the child could inherit either allele 8 or 12 from the father and either 7 or 12 from the mother. For the second locus, the child could inherit either allele 17 or 22 from the father and either 13 or 27 from the mother. This results in a variety of potential combinations of alleles in the offspring, demonstrating how children can inherit any combination of the alleles from their parents.

The reasoning behind the other options is not focused on directly explaining their correctness, but to further clarify: children will inherit HLA from both parents, and it is not limited to only expressing the father's HLA types