HLA markers in six Lebanese religious subpopulations.

A total of 315 normal, unrelated individuals from six of the seven principal religious communities of Lebanon have been typed for 26 alleles of the A and B loci. The gene, haplotype frequencies and delta values have been calculated. The HLA gene frequencies for loci A and B reported in this study are shown to cross Moslim-Christian lines, but generate a distinguishably different profile for the Armenian immigrant subpopulation. This first-level homogeneity which is inconsistent with results earlier reported for ABO, rhesus and Gm systems, seems to disappear when linkage disequilibrium deltas are compared.