Further studies on the major histocompatibility complex as a genetic marker for schizophrenia

Our results seem to indicate the existence of a locus in the major histocompatibity complex (MHC) region, correlated to schizophrenic illness and strictly linked to the loci HL-A and MLR. The associations found between these last loci and the disease can probably be explained by a linkage disequilibrium or a selective pressure between the allelles of the three loci. Our results also indicate that the genetic systems investigated may be useful diagnostically as a genetic marker for schizophrenia. But the real meaning of their relationships to the illness has to be further investigated.