Determination of alpha 2HS-glycoprotein phenotypes by isoelectric focusing and immunoblotting: polymorphic occurrence of HSGA*5 in Okinawa.

A print immunofixation is a very useful procedure for the demonstration of alpha 2HS-glycoprotein (HSGA) following polyacrylamide gel isoelectric focusing. However, this technique has the one disadvantage of requiring a large volume of expensive antiserum. In this paper an alternative detection system is presented which involves the non-electric transfer of HSGA from a focused gel to a nitrocellulose filter and the immunologic detection of HSGA immobilized on nitrocellulose. Using this method the distribution of HSGA polymorphism in the Nepalese and Japanese populations was investigated. All the populations tested were found to lack the common HSGA*3 of the Caucasians. A rare HSGA*5 in Honshu, a main island of Japan, was observed at polymorphic frequency in Okinawa, Southern Japan.