HLA investigations in cardiomyopathies.

Typization of HLA A, B and C antigens of peripheral lymphocytes was performed in 14 patients suffering from cardiomyopathy and in 10 family members from 10 families. Among the antigens of locus A, the most frequent were the subgroups of HLA A9 (A23 and A24) in 7/14, and those of HLA A10 (A25 and A26) in 3/14; frequent antigens of locus B were the types B5, B7, B12 and B35. In 2 of 10 families the cardiomyopathy was transmitted by autosomal dominant genes, while the other cardiomyopathy cases were sporadic. The HLA B8 antigen was not observed in any case of cardiomyopathy.