Frequency of HLA-A and B alleles in early and late-onset Alzheimer's disease

The frequency of various allele types of the class I Major Histocompatibili ty Complex (MHC) genes HLA-A and HLA-B were compared between pathologically confirmed groups of late and early-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) and a co ntrol group, DNA was extracted from frozen brain tissue and the highly poly morphic second and third exons of the HLA-A and HLA-B genes were independen tly PCR amplified using specific primers. Individual allele types were iden tified using sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes. The results showed t hat the main frequency differences occurred between the late-onset AD and t he control group however none of these reached statistical significance. (C ) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.