HLA Histocompatibility Antigens in a Polynesian Population — Cook Islanders of Mauke

Abstract

Polynesians living on the island of Mauke in the Cook Island group were typed for HLA-A and -B locus antigens. The Mauke population has restricted HLA polymorphism, with five A-locus antigens and four B-locus antigens accounting for a majority of the HLA phenotypes. Although some differences in antigen frequency were found when Mauke Islanders were compared with Polynesians from Easter Island and Samoa, the Mauke Islanders were closer in their HLA antigenic profile to Polynesians than to Melanesians.

Heritable Factors Play a Major Role in Determining Host Responses toWuchereria bancroftiInfection in an Isolated South Pacific Island Population

“…It is likely that outside contact was, until recently, restricted principally to islanders of the neighboring southern Cook Islands, who shared similar racially homogeneous populations, thus implying minimal human genetic substructure. Indeed, examination of HLA antigens found that, although differences did exist, Maukeans were considerably more similar to other Polynesians than to Pacific Melanesians [25].…”

“…Assessment of the population determined that only permanent Polynesian residents lived on the island in 1974, with only a few long-term visitors in 1992. Pedigree information was collected by Maukean government-appointed staff [25] and was updated in 1992. Pedigree analysis was conducted in 448 (60%) of 750 individuals in 1974 and in 625 (99.7%) of 627 in 1992.…”

“…Previous longitudinal [24] and cross-sectional [3,[25][26][27] studies on Mauke, where subperiodic bancroftian filariasis is endemic, have provided clinical, immunologic, and pedigree data on a highly characterized and largely isolated population over a period of nearly 2 decades. Earlier segregation analyses of a single large, extended Maukean family indicated that their filarial infection patterns were compatible with a recessive genetic model, and no evidence was found for linkage to HLA-A or -B locus specificities [13].…”

HLA and non‐HLA phenotyping and genotyping in Austral and Gambier Polynesian Archipelagos

“…In contrast, the delta between A2 and Bw22 is negative (p = 0.001) in Samoa Island in West Polynesia (Crosier et al 1976). The A2, Bw22 association is not available for the West Polynesian population of the Cooke Islands (McQueen et al 1979) and from Wallis Island (Serjeantson et al 1982), the latter islands all being on the west of the Pacific. This observation is in agreement with the assumption that a small group of Polynesians left the Samoa Island some 3,000 years ago to the east, possibly to go to the Marquises Islands.…”

“…In particular, the most efficient polymorphic system, i.e. the HLA system, has until now been used in a very limited area of the immense Polynesian territory (Thorsby et al 1972, Batchelor et al 1973, Crosier & Douglas 1976, McQueen et al 1979, Booth et al 1977, Roberts et al 1983, Fong et al 1983, Serjeantson et al 1982, Kostyu et al 1984.…”