HLA antigens in 16 families with xeroderma pigmentosum

Multiple basal cell carcinomas and HLA frequencies in southern Australia

An association between HLA-DR1 and the development of multiple basal cell carcinomas was detected in southern Australia. A reduction in HLA-DR4 was found in patients with basal cell carcinoma compared with a local control group. The relative risk for HLA-DR1 was 2.1, which was lower than that for persons in farther countries from the equator.

Ataxia-telangiectasia and xeroderma pigmentosum: no evidence of linkage to HLA

Nine HLA-typed multiplex nuclear families segregating ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T), an autosomal recessive disorder, were studied. Linkage analysis performed by lod scores and by a previously published sib pair method revealed no evidence for linkage between A-T and HLA. An alternative method of linkage detection, previously applied to xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) and HLA, was reexamined and found to contain an error. As a consequence, neither of these "DNA repair disorders" appears to be linked to HLA.

Influence of genes associated with the main histocompatibility complex on deoxyribonucleic acid excision repair capacity and bleomycin sensitivity in mouse lymphocytes

In sets of mice congenic at H-2 and upon two backgrounds, and selected according to known differences in strain-specific lifespans, DNA repair efficiency in spleen cells was compared by two techniques: excision repair capacity following UV-irradiation, and bleomycin sensitivity. Significant differences between certain congenic partner sets were noted with both techniques, suggesting that the main histocompatibility complex influences DNA repair capacity.

Multigene families, histocompatibility systems, transformation, meiosis, stem cells, and DNA repair

Aging is probably not directly traceable to changes along the whole genome, but to a small portion thereof. The main histocompatibility complex appears to be one among the postulated sets of multigene families responsible. The immortality of transformed cells, the germ line, and possibly certain pluripotential stem cells may suggest common qualitative and/or quantitative differences in DNA repair mechanisms between these cell populations and committed, normal cell populations. A relationship between HLA and at least two diseases showing defective DNA-repair suggests that the same chromosome carrying the main histocompatibility complex may control some repair processes. The correspondence of variation in lifespans in different mouse strains with the DNA repair capabilities and degrees of autoimmune susceptibility of the same strains lends further support to the idea that DNA repair, immune dysfunction and aging in higher animals may be intimately related.