HLA as a marker of the hemochromatosis gene in Sweden

Abstract

The frequency of HLA-A3 and HLA-B14 antigens was found to be significantly (P=<0.0001) higher in a series of 50 unrelated and unselected Swedish patients with idiopathic hemochromatosis (IH) than in controls, being 66% and 32% for A3 and 22% and 2% for B14. The haplotype A3B14 was associated with the highest risk in this material (relative risk 23.4). One family with this haplotype was traced back to the end of the seventeenth century. The pattern of HLA antigens associated with IH in Sweden shows remarkable similarity to those reported from England and Brittany.