[A new HLA-B antigen: HLA-Bw 59]

The HLA-B8 antigen is one of the well-defined and characteristic antigens associated with organ specific autoimmune diseases in Caucasians. In the Japanese, HLA-B8 positives have been assumed to be extremely rare. By using some HLA-B8 typing sera, a new HLA-B antigen, HLA-Bw4 positive, was found in the Japanese. This new HLA-B antigen, tentatively named HOK-1, showed a phenotype frequency of 3.7% and a gene frequency of 1.9 +/- 0.6%. The strong linkage disequilibrium was noted between HOK-1 and HLA-Cw1 genes. HOK-1 antigenic specificity was assigned as HLA-Bw 59 by the WHO nomenclature committee after the 8th International Histocompatibility Workshop. There were no significant associations of this antigen with following diseases: rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis vulgaris, myasthenia gravis, Behcet's disease and asthma, so far as, in the Japanese, compared with that the HLA-B8 antigen has a characteristic association with organ specific autoimmune diseases in Caucasian.