Affective disorder not linked to HLA in a large bipolar kindred

Recent studies have suggested genetic linkage between the major histocompatibility complex and affective disorder. We tested this hypothesis in a large pedigree of bipolar affective disorder in which 22 of 37 relatives were interviewed and HLA typing was carried out on 20. The findings provided no evidence for linkage between affective disorder and HLA antigens. Our findings are discussed along with those of other linkage studies bearing on this question.