| Abstract: | We have identified 67 IgA deficient healthy blood donors in our region by systematic screening of 24,782 blood samples. HLA typing results on 36 of these donors indicated a significant association with both HLA-A1 and HLA-B14 antigens. The frequency of A29 and B8 antigens was also increased. However, B8 association may be secondarily involved due to linkage disequilibrium (e.g., A1-B8-DR3). The frequency of HLA-A1 and HLA-B8 antigens was increased in the group of IgA deficient donors who developed anti-IgA antibodies (53.9%) compared to those who did not (26.1%). Although the sample size appears to be too small to show a statistical significance (chi 2 = 2.76, 0.05 less than p less than 0.1), this is the first report to imply a possible HLA association with anti-IgA antibody formation by IgA deficient healthy individuals. |
