Violent death associated with specific HLA haplotypes: A preliminary survey of deceased American organ donors

Research suggests evolutionary relationships between Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) haplotypes, disease, and behavior. Humans and animal studies show female preferences for HLA heterozygous males and male bonding based upon HLA homozygosity. No HLA study has examined aggression. This secondary analysis surveys possible associations between specific HLA haplotypes and occurrence of violent death in a national sample of deceased organ donors. Data was obtained from the United Network for Organ Sharing, including the following genetic loci: HLA-A (30 alleles), B (63 alleles), CW (19), DR (21), DQ (10), and DP (7). Variables were HLA haplotype and Death Circumstance (suicide, homicide, child abuse) according to the WHO World Report on Violence and Health. A Bonferroni Type I error rate of p < 0.001 was used in SPSS Chi-square analyses. 16,839 violent deaths were reported among 155,624 cases. For HLA-A, 17 heterozygotes were significantly associated with violent death (Relative Odds Ratios 1.32-2.90, p < 0.001). For HLA-B, there were 23 significant heterozygotes (OR 1.40 – 3.72), including clustering for HLA-B35, B45, and B53. For HLA-BW, homozygotes had significantly increased odds ratios for violent death (OR 1.33, 1.49), whereas heterozygotes had significantly decreased ratios (OR .36, .40). There were 44 significant HLA-DR heterozygotes (OR 1.24-2.27). Clustering of specific HLA haplotypes with increased occurrence of violent death represents an intriguing finding for further health behavior research. If corroborated, the most likely suggested causal mechanism would be olfaction. Consequently, these results suggest experimental studies in HLA-typing of aggressive human interactions with direct implications for public health.