C4 null alleles in a Swedish population

The distribution of C4 null alleles (C4Q0) was studied in a Swedish population comprising 410 male individuals from Stockholm County and Uppsala City. The prevalances of homozygous C4A*Q0 and C4B*Q0 determined by analysing the gene products in serum were 5.0 and 5.6%, respectively, in the Stockholm population and 4.0% each in the Uppsala population. These values are higher than those previously reported from other Caucasian populations. The finding reflects a different genetic composition of the Swedish population and may have relevance to the disease spectrum in this population as compared to other Caucasian populations.