FAMILIAL URINARY-TRACT ANOMALIES - ASSOCIATION WITH THE MAJOR HISTOCOMPATIBILITY COMPLEX IN MAN

Histocompatibility typing of a family with 15 members and a history of ureteropelvic junction stenosis and 4 families with 23 members and a history of vesicoureteral reflux revealed that these anomalies of the urinary tract may be hereditary and segregate with histocompatibility haplotype within a family. Thus, a close linkage of childhood reflux and ureteral stenosis with that of the major histocompatibility complex of man is suggested. If confirmed by further family studies it will place the gene(s) for vesicoureteral reflux and ureteral stenosis on the 6th pair of human chromosome and open the possibility of using histocompatibility typing as a marker for these anomalies within a family.