A new HLA-B antigen (HOK-1) found in the Japanese

The HLA-B8 antigen is one of the characteristic antigens associated with organ specific autoimmune diseases among Caucasians. Among 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 called HOK-1, showed a phenotype frequency of 3.7% and a gene frequency of 1.9 +/- 0.6%. This antigen has a strong linkage disequilibrium with HLA-Cw1 among the Japanese.