Correlation of HLA types in premature coronary artery disease: an attempt to define independent genetic risk factors

Mengele Medicus: Medicine's Nazi Heritage

Nazi medicine is commonly considered to be an aberration that began and ended with the horrors of the Hitler regime. But its beginnings were more gradual and its legacy more pernicious. Data derived from research conducted on unknowing and unwitting subjects in death camps continue to be cited in authoritative contemporary medical literature. Nazi medicine has become a part of the professional genotype of modern medicine. This continuing influence of Nazi medicine raises profound questions for the epistemology and morality of medicine.

Histocompatibility antigens in Indian patients with myocardial infarction

The frequency of HLA-A, B, C and DR tissue antigens in 103 Indian men aged 40 years or under who had experienced a myocardial infarction was compared with the frequency in 760 healthy Indian controls. No significant differences in antigen frequencies were found. The findings in this study provide no support for either a genetic or an immunological basis for myocardial infarction in young Indian men.

Familial hypercholesterolemia and HLA antigens

Hereditary factors play an important role in the etiology and progression of coronary heart disease (CHD), most probably by causing the appearance and the levels of its risk factors. To investigate if there is a correlation between familial hypercholesterolemia and HLA system antigens, 25 subjects of 7 families with familial hypercholesterolemia were compared with 14 normocholesterolemic related subjects. Compared to normocholesterolemic kindreds, the familial hypercholesterolemic subjects have a significant increased HLA-Bw35 antigen and a lack of HLA-A1. Therefore, the correlation found with some HLA system phenotypes improves our knowledge about familial hypercholesterolemia and aids in the identification of subjects affected with this disorder of lipid metabolism, which is one of the most important CHD risk factors.

HLA and disease

This review describes the greater portion of a large number of new studies on HLA and disease association which has appeared in the literature since 1979. The majority of these are concerned with the association of certain diseases with class II major histocompatibility complex antigens. The possible biologic significance of these associations in terms of their probable etiology appears to be the prevailing theme. Current thinking regarding certain heritable diseases is described. It seems that although much has been done to resolve the genetics of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, other diseases such a multiple sclerosis still remain a mystery. Doubtlessly, much will be gained from DNA cloning and sequencing studies proposed for the future. A great deal of new information has been obtained relative to HLA itself. New loci have been postulated in the HLA-D/DR region through the use of powerful immunochemical procedures made possibly by the advent of modern technological advances. The impact of these developments on our understanding of the function of the MHC in man and its possible relationship to disease are discussed.