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TY - JOUR AU - Hill, Adrian V. S. AU - Allsopp, Catherine E. M. AU - Kwiatkowski, Dominic AU - Anstey, Nicholas M. AU - Twumasi, Patrick AU - Rowe, Pamela A. AU - Bennett, Stephen AU - Brewster, David AU - McMichael, Andrew J. AU - Greenwood, Brian M. PY - 1991 DA - 1991/08/01 TI - Common West African HLA antigens are associated with protection from severe malaria JO - Nature SP - 595 EP - 600 VL - 352 IS - 6336 AB - A large case-control study of malaria in West African children shows that a human leucocyte class I antigen (HLA-Bw53) and an HLA class II haplotype (DRB1*1302–DQB1*0501), common in West Africans but rare in other racial groups, are independently associated with protection from severe malaria. In this population they account for as great a reduction in disease incidence as the sickle-cell haemoglobin variant. These data support the hypothesis that the extraordinary polymorphism of major histocompatibility complex genes has evolved primarily through natural selection by infectious pathogens. SN - 1476-4687 UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/352595a0 DO - 10.1038/352595a0 ID - Hill1991 ER -