Haptoglobin Types in American Negroes

Abstract

SINCE the discovery by Smithies¹ that there are genetically controlled serum haptoglobin types, two reports on the distribution of these types among African Negroes have been published. Sutton et al. ² noted a 49 per cent incidence of haptoglobin type 1-1 among Liberian and Ivory Coast natives. A similar percentage (54 per cent) was found by Allison et al. ³ in Nigerians. However, a great discrepancy between the two studies was described by Allison, who found that 32 per cent of the Nigerian sera did not contain demonstrable haptoglobins—a condition not reported by Sutton. Allison pointed out that since the Michigan investigators did not add hæmoglobin to the sera prior to electrophoresis, and the starch gel was not stained with benzidine, sera devoid of haptoglobins could be readily confused with those of type 1-1.