Abstract
The majority of the genetic component in insulin dependent (Type 1) diabetes mellitus can be explained by associations with genes on short arm of chromosome 6 located in the major histocompatibility complex. With the advent of cloning of the HLA Class II region genes it has been possible to refine the previous known association of HLA-DR3 and DR4 with this disease. Strong associations of IDDM have now been shown to exist with the DQB1 gene and/or linked genes, although this does not completely explain the HLA susceptibility to this disease.
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