HLA-BW35 and B5 in Japanese patients with Graves' disease

Thirty-three Japanese patients with Graves' disease and 106 healthy controls living in the Kagoshima area, the southernmost part of the Japanese mainland, were HLA typed by the NIH method. None of them were related to each other. The only antigen showing an increased frequency in Japanese patients with Graves' disease was HLA-BW35 (corrected P less than 0.02). A decreased frequency of B5 in the patients was also statistically significant (corrected p less than 0.02).