RESUMO
Nothing is known of the frequency of the HLA antigens in the Caribbean. For this reason, HLA-A, B & C typings were performed on a sample of normal individuals in Jamaica in order to obtain these frequencies. Comparisons were then made between the frequencies obtained in the Jamaican study group and the frequencies recorded for other racial groups. HLA-A antigens: The A2 antigens gave the highest frequency (45.2 percent) in the Jamaican study group. In comparing the freqencies of the Jamaican group with frequencies recorded for Europeans, Zambians and Japanese, it was found that the A1 antigen gave highest frequencies amongst the Caucasian and Jamaican groups (15.8 percent and 19.35 percent respectively). The highest frequency recorded in the Zambian group was 27 percent for AW30. The Jamaican group also gave a high frequency for this antigen (19.35 percent). The highest frequency for the Japanese group was for the A9 antigen and here the Jamaican group recorded their second highest frequency (22.5 percent). HLA-B antigens: The highest frequencies obtained for the Jamaican study group were for the HLA BW35, B17 and B12 (35.5 percent, 29 percent and 25.8 percent respectively). The highest frequency recorded for the European group is for the B12 antigen (16.6 percent). The highest frequency for the Zambian is 14.9 percent for B17. However, the Japanese record low frequencies for these groups. The highest frequencies recorded for the Japanese group were 20.9 percent and 21.8 percent for the B5 and B40 antigens respectively. HLA-C antigens: Jamaicans, Zambians and Europeans show their highest frequencies for the CW4 antigen. The cross reactivity of the antigens of the HLA system and the antigenic splits or subgroups confirmed the complexity of the system although in some cases, particularly with the public antigens BW4 and BW6, interpretation of results was aided. The overlap in Jamaican frequencies with frequencies of othe racial groups is probably due to the racial admixture resulting from the intermarriage of the various racial groups in Jamaica (AU)
