HLA-DR1 No detected in the 159 normal adults was (PF<0-63%), whereas centenarians the PF among was 61% (5/82), which RR of 12-3. The differences gave an between centenarians and controls in other locus antigens not statistically significant at the 5% level. We did not a predominance of heterozygosity in each locus for the group, but the centenarians showed a slight increase in of DR-blanks (table 1), which is in keeping with

SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus; Alc-LC, alcoholic liver cirrhosis; IDDM, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus; UC, ulcerative colitis; COG, childhood-onset Graves’ disease; MG, myasthenia gravis; Beh&ccedil;et’s, disease; controls, healthy controls; Jpn, Japanese; Chi, Chinese; NS, not significant. Dashes mean that no primary association was noted in the references cited.

The decreased frequency of DRw9 and the increased of DR1 occurred not only among centenarians

We thank M. Haranaka, C. Ono, and 1. Ashitomi for technical assistance, and Dr Y. Hosoda and Dr S. Inayama for their help. This work was partly supported by the Japanese Ministry of Education "Studies of HLA complex in Japanese" (grant 59370019) and by the Meiji Life Foundation of Health and Welfare.

specificity or DRw9-B40 haplotype. There is an extremely strong (primary) association between these antigens and systemic lupus erythematosus,16 alcoholic liver cirrhosis,17 and diabetes mellitus;18,19 and ulcerative colitis,2O myasthenia gravis,21 and childhood onset Graves’ disease22 associated with increased frequency of DRw9 (table are an II). Since DRw9 is related to genes that contribute to the susceptibility to autoimmune diseases or immune deficiencies, the low frequency of DRw9 the among extremely old people in our study probably helped them to avoid the diseases associated with such genes. In support of conclusion is the suggestion that pathological our some features and of death elderly people aged cause among beyond 80 differ from those in other adults.2326 years

Correspondence should be addressed to H. T., Department of Clinical Laboratories, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160, Japan.

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