Genetic Markers in Late Paraphrenia: A Study of HLA Antigens

Abstract
Patients with late paraphrenia were typed for HLA-A, -B and -C. Increased frequencies of BW55 (P= 0.036), B37 (P= 0.008) and CW6 (P=0.056) were found relative to controls. Unlike findings in paranoid schizophrenia, there was no HLAA9 association, suggesting that paraphrenics may be genetically distinct from schizophrenics. The primary association seems to be with B37, which has the lowest corrected P value and highest relative risk; if this were replicated, it would make possession of this antigen a strong risk factor for developing the disorder.