Localization of the recombination points in a family with two DR/DP recombinations

In a family with a maternal DR/GLO recombination, cellular DP typing showed it to be located between DR and DP. RFLP studies done during the 9th international histocompatibility workshop gave anomalous segregation patterns of DPA and DPB bands that could be interpreted as being due to a second, paternal DR/DP recombination. This assumption was confirmed later by PCR-SSO typing. A more precise mapping has been done by new markers showing the maternal recombination to be within the TAP2 locus and the paternal recombination to be between DQB1 and DQB3. This supports earlier suggestions of a hot spot of recombination in the TAP region. The recombinations involve parental haplotypes that presently show DR/DP linkage disequilibrium in the French population and it is proposed that DR/DP recombinations occur randomly while B/DR recombinations preferentially occur on haplotypes without strong linkage disequilibrium. Existing DR/DP linkage disequilibria in a given population will thus be broken down with time. The mixed lymphocyte culture response towards an isolated DP difference was tested in this and another DR/DP recombinant family. It showed that an alloresponse towards DP may be highly variable and this suggests that it might be important to define the rules for the strength of this reaction and the possible implications for allotransplantation.