IDENTICAL MHC MARKERS IN NON-JEWISH IRANIAN AND ASHKENAZI JEWISH PATIENTS WITH PEMPHIGUS-VULGARIS - POSSIBLE COMMON CENTRAL-ASIAN ANCESTRALORIGIN

Previous studies showed that almost all Ashkenazi Jewish patients with pemphigus vulgaris carried the extended haplotype [HLA-B38, SC21, DRB 10402, DQB1*0302] or [HLA-B35. SC31, DRB1*0402, DQB1*0302] or class I I fragments of them. Non-Jewish patients carried [HLA-B55, SB45, DRB1 1401, DQB10503] or its class Li fragments, In the present study of 20 Iranian patients with pemphigus vulgaris, 17 were found co carry DRB1 0402, DQB1*0302 haplotypes, also found among normal Iranian haplotype s and the same as chat of tile Jews. These findings suggest that the p emphigus MHC susceptibility gene among Iranians derived from the same ancestor as that in the Ashkenazim. The ancient Jews were under Persia n domination from 500 B.C. until 300 B.C. and in the 8th century A.D., a Tataric people living in the kingdom of Khazar on the Western shore of the Caspian Sea and the Northern shore of the Black Sea, near Pers ia, converted to Judaism, providing possible opportunities for gene mi xing in two populations that are distinct and separate today. (C) Amer ican Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, 1997. Publishe d by Elsevier Science Inc.