HL-A transplantation antigens in subjects susceptible to recrudescent herpes labialis.

We have shown in retrospective and prospective studies that there is an increased frequency of HL-A1 in subjects with recrudescent circum-oral herpes when compared with the frequency in the background population. This is the first association of a human disease of known viral aetiology with a specific transplantation antigen, and it is possible that this may represent a marker for an immune response gene.