The haptoglobin genetic locus at 16q22 is polymorphic with two known classes of alleles, denoted 1 and 2 (1 ). The polymorphism is extremely common, with worldwide frequencies of the two alleles being approximately equal. However, there is considerable geographic and ethnic variation in the distribution of haptoglobin phenotypes (1 ). Over the past 3–4 years our laboratory has demonstrated that...
