Relationship of HLA to schizophrenia not supported in multiplex families.

The role of the human histocompatibility complex (HLA) in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia has been suggested in previous reports. We conducted a genetic study in 33 new families. Our linkage analysis, which used the affected sib-pair method, did not provide evidence for nonrandom assortment. Moreover, the results of an association study using the "haplotype relative risk" method failed to confirm the positive association between HLA A9 and schizophrenia. Taken together, our data did not support any relationship of HLA type to schizophrenia.