HLA CLASS-I AND CLASS-II GENES IN RELATION TO THE GENETIC-STRUCTURE AND EPIDEMIOLOGY OF AN ITALIAN PROVINCE

The genetic structure of Pavia province is studied separately with HLA class I and II alleles, The analysis reveals that HLA class I genes r eflect the same geographic barriers to migration found also with surna mes, while class II gene distribution does not seem to be influenced b y the presence of these barriers. The independence of HLA class II all elic distribution from the genetic structure of the area reinforces th e hypothesis that environmental factors, rather than genetic drift, in fluence the frequency of these alleles, An example may be the signific ant correlation found between the distribution of the DR3-DQ2 haplotyp e and the prevalence of celiac disease in the province's districts.