DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) typing of HLA-DR and DQ alleles of 60 Japanese type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetic patients and 115 controls was performed. RFLP typing of DRB1 showed increased frequency of DR9 and decreased frequencies of DR2 and DRW6 among patients compared to controls. In the RFLP typing of BamHI-digested DNA to DQ beta probe (BamHI-DQB1), the incidence of the 10.26 kb fragment, which represents either DQW4, DQW8 or DQW9, was markedly elevated in the patients, whereas the incidence of DQW6 was reduced. The predicted DR-DQ haplotype study revealed that DR4-DQW4 or DQW8, DRW8-DQW4 or DQW8 and DR9-DQW9 may contribute to susceptibility to type 1 diabetes. When serological typing of the 13 DRW8 patients was performed, all the 11 DRW8 patients carrying DQW4 or DQW8 (BamHI-10.26 kb) were positive for DQW3. These results indicated that the HLA-DQ locus may play an important role in the development of type 1 diabetes in the Japanese as well as other ethnic groups and that the DRW8-DQW8 haplotype may predispose to the disease in Japan.