Studies of HLA alloantigens of the Navajo Indians of North America. I. Variance of association between HLA-DRW (WIA) and HLA-DW specificities.

As a part of the 7th International Histocompatibility Workshop, 49 randomly selected Navajo Indians were B-cell (DR) typed. Thirty-three of these individuals were also HLA-D (L.D.) typed with the Caucasian derived Copenhagen homozygous testing cell panel. DRW 2, 7, and WIA 8 were clearly defined while DRW 3 and 4 were less well defined and DRW 1, 5, and 6 were not defined in this population by the Workshop antisera. There was highly significant correlation between DRW 7/DW 7 and WIA 8/DW 8 but no correlation at all between DRW 2/DW 2, DRW 3/DW 3 and DRW 4/DW4. These results, in part, were discordant with the finding of the 7th Workshop and suggest that either DRW (WIA) and DW alloantigens are the product of more than one gene locus or that these antigens are a product of one gene locus but that each antigen molecule has multiple factors.