Idiopathic haemochromatosis in the Australian population: HLA linkage and recessivity

Studies of 73 unrelated patients and 19 families with idiopathic haemochromatosis are reported. The unrelated patients showed a highly significant association between the disease and HLA-A3. There was a less strong association with HLA-B7 and HLA-DRw2 attributed to the linkage disequilibrium between HLA-A3, B7, and DRw2. Lod scores and haplotytype analysis of the families indicated a recessive mode of inheritance for an idiopathic haemochromatosis susceptibility factor in close linkage with the HLA region. These results, for Australian caucasoid patients, are not in total agreement with those reported in studies of other populations.