title: HLA and Graves' disease: an association with HLA-DRw3.
abstract: HLA-A, -B, and -C antigens were tested by a standard lymphocyte microcytotoxicity technique in 86 Caucasians patients from western France with Graves' disease, and the data were compared with findings in 356 healthy controls. For HLA-DR antigen typing performed by lymphocyte microcytotoxicity testing using a long incubation time, the data were compared to findings in 100 healthy controls. An increase was found in the frequency of HLA-DRw3 [51.16% of patients vs. 20% of controls, corrected P (Pc) < 0.0003; relative risk (rr), 4.19) associated with an increased frequency of HLA-B8 (44.19% of patients vs. 22.47% of controls; Pc < 0.001; rr, 2.73) and HLA-A1 (40.7% of patients vs. 28.93% of controls; Pc < 0.03; rr, 1.71). In contrast, a diminished frequency was found for HLA-B12 (12.79% vs. 31.74%; Pc < 0.01). The antigen combination B8-DRw3 was noted in 37 of the 86 Graves' disease patients compared with 13 of 100 controls (Pc < 0.00003). No association was observed between HLA antigens and the different manifestations of the disease, such as the presence of goiter and/or exophthalmos, or the severity of clinical or biochemical signs. The present findings confirm the reported increase in the frequency of HLA-B8 in patients with Graves' disease. The most striking finding was the prevalence of HLA-DRw3, which, together with recent reports on lymphocyte-defined D locus determinants pointing to an increase frequency of HLA-Dw3, suggests that the gene or genes conferring susceptibility to Graves' disease may be located close to the HLA-D (DR) region of the sixth chromosome.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006111:Graves Disease / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012397:Rosette Formation
chemical_list: D006680:HLA Antigens; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II