Associations of hepatitis B surface antigenemia with HLA locus B specificities.

To test whether HLA histocompatibility phenotypes might be associated with circulating hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAG), we performed chisquare and Scheffé analyses on findings in 144 renal patients with known HLA types and HBsAg status. A significant relation between locus B HLA type (or types) and HBS antigenemia was demonstrated (P = 0.01, adjusted for dual testing) with positive associations suggested between Bw15, Bw17 and Bw35 types and transient or persistent (or both) antigenemia. The latter associations individually were statistically significant only if multiple testing was disregarded, but the contrast by the Scheffé method between the three implicated specificities and all other specificities was significant, even after adjustment for multiple testing (P less than 0.02). Associations of genetically determined HLA specificities with hepatitis B infection may constitute the basis for previously observed population differences in HBS Ag prevalences, and suggest that susceptibility to hepatitis B infection may be in part genetically determined.