Testing the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in the HLA system

Abstract

A new method of testing the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system is proposed and applied to real data. The derivation is based on the maximum likelihood method and closely related to standard regression theory. The test statistic has a closed representation of residual sum of squares by a projection mapping of data onto the estimated regression plane. Under the Hardy-Weinberg law the noniterative estimates for the gene frequencies are suggested by the use of the projection mapping. The test statistic and gene frequency estimates are shown to be asymptotically equivalent to the maximum likelihood method and to be more efficient than the other suggested test statistic when there are more than two identified alleles.