Comparative analysis of the association of HLA-B*51 suballeles with Behçet's disease in patients of German and Turkish origin.
The distribution of the different HLA-B*51 suballeles among patients with Behçet's disease (BD) of German (n=33) and Turkish (n=92) origin in comparison to their presence in the respective ethnically matched healthy control groups (German: n=325, Turkish: n=93) was studied. HLA-B*51x was significantly increased in both patient groups in comparison to the controls (Germans: 58% vs. 12%, OR 9.76, P<0.001; Turkish: 75% vs. 25%, OR 9.13, P<0.001). Molecular subtyping of B*51x revealed HLA-B*51011 and B*5108 as the predominant suballeles in both patient groups and controls although with a slightly increased frequency of HLA-B*5108 in the diseased individuals. HLA-B*5105 was the only further HLA-B*51x subtype detected in one Turkish patient heterozygous also for HLA-B*5101. HLA-B*5107 although present in a Turkish as well as German control was absent in the patient groups. There was also a tendency towards a higher degree of homozygosity for HLA-B*51x in both patient groups versus the matched controls (Germans: 10% in patients vs. 2,5% in controls; Turkish: 27% in patients vs. 13% in controls). Our study further supports previous hypothesis of an association of BD with B51 suballeles which share amino-acid residues at positions 63 and 67 as well as at positions 77-83 for specific peptide binding and natural killer (NK)-cell interactions. This applies to HLA-B*5101 and B*5108, but not to HLA-B*5107 different at position 67, which could be negatively associated with BD.
Kötter
I
I
Department II of Internal Medicine, Section of Transplantation Immunology and Immunohematology, University Hospital, Otfried-Müller Strasse 10, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany. ina.koetter@med.uni-tuebingen.de
Günaydin
I
I
Stübiger
N
N
Yazici
H
H
Fresko
I
I
Zouboulis
C C
CC
Adler
Y
Y
Steiert
I
I
Kurz
B
B
Wernet
D
D
Braun
B
B
Müller
C A
CA
D000483:Alleles; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000235:genetics*; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005805:Genes, MHC Class I; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D005858:Germany; D015235:HLA-B Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D059949:HLA-B51 Antigen; D006579:Heterozygote; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006720:Homozygote; D006801:Humans; D014421:Turkey
D015235:HLA-B Antigens; D059949:HLA-B51 Antigen