HLA-D "BG" in Israel. A Japanese related allele population and family study

An homozygous typing cell for a local HLA-D determinant"BG", defined by family study, is described. HLA-D "BG" recognizes a specificity identical to the Japanese HLA-DHO (Dw12). Two families and 102 randomly selected healthy Israeli individuals were typed for the HLA-D "BG" determinant. HLA-D "BG" showed segregation as a single determinant within families. The gene frequency for this allele was 0.045, compared to the frequency of 0.148 for DHO in Japanese. In the Israeli population "BG" is in strong association with HLA-Bw52 (joint occurrence = 7.80%) and DR2 (joint occurrence = 8.80%), resembling the data reported foar DHO (Dw12) in Japan. The frequency of this allele may partially account for the low frequency of HLA-Dw2 in the Israeli population.