Gene and haplotype frequencies for HLA-A and HLA-B antigens were determined in Milwaukee blood donors of German and Polish descent. Gene frequencies for A25 and B18 were significantly higher in Poles than in Germans. Significant gametic associations were noted for Al-B8, A29-Bl2 and AW30-B13 in both populations. Gametic association for A3-B7 was only found in Germans, while the A25-Bl8 haplotype frequency was significantly increased in Poles. Since the latter haplotype has also been found in Yugoslavs, Ukrainians and Czechs, it is possible that A25-Bl8 represents a Slavonic marker.
Histocompatibility testing or HLA typing has been shown to be a powerful tool for anthropological analysis of human populations (Dausset and Colombani, '72). The multiallelic HLA system is the most polymorphic genetic system presently known. Most extensively described have been the products of HLA-A and HLA-B genes; more than 20 antigens controlled by each of these genes have been recognized (Kissmeyer-Nielsen, '75).
Although HLA information has been reported on some Central European groups (Albert et al., '72; Bertrams et al., '71; Gleichman, '74; Kastelan e t al., '74; Menzel and Richter, '72; Lenhart et al., '77; Singal and Bhargava, '75) no articles have been published on Poles, and available data on Germans do not include some of the more recently discovered HLA antigens. This paper presents results of an analysis of HLA-A and HLA-B antigens in blood donors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who were of Polish or German descent.
The majority of Poles in Milwaukee arrived between 1880 and 1900 from what was then Austrian and Russian territory, (Milwaukee Writer's Project, '47). The periods of greatest German emigration to Wisconsin were between 1846 and 1854 and from 1881 to 1884 (Faust, '27). Most Milwaukee Germans came