Abstract
To determine if the human major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region located on chromosome 6 p21 is a major susceptibility locus for Graves' disease (GD) among the Hans in North of China.
Four highly polymorphic microsatellite markers spanning the entire region of chromosome 6 p21 were employed to screen the DNA from blood samples of 54 Han multiplex families with GD (322 individuals) in Liaoning Province, northeast China. Tow-point and multi-point Lod scores were calculated under different levels of penetrance, assuming both dominant and recessive models. Multipoint nonparametric linkage (NPL) scores were also calculated.
The two-point Lod scores (theta = 0) and multipoint Lod scores for the 4 microsatellites were all less than -2 for all the markers tested, at all levels of penetrance, and in both the dominant and recessive modes of inheritance. No family showed a two-point Lod score or a multipoint Lod score of 1.0 or even larger under the assumed inheritance models. The maximum multipoint Lod score was