title: The role of the immunogenetic background in the development and recurrence of acute idiopathic pericarditis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We assessed the role of the immunogenetic background in the development and recurrence of acute idiopathic pericarditis (AIP).
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-five patients with a first episode of AIP were followed for 23.8 ± 6.3 months and recurrences were recorded. The control group consisted of 246 healthy individuals. In all subjects, genomic human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing was performed. Moreover, circulating lymphocyte subpopulations were studied in 44 randomly selected patients and in 20 controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An increased frequency of HLA-A*02, -Cw*07 and -DQB1*0202 alleles, and a decreased frequency of the -DQB1*0302 allele was detected in patients with AIP. The recurrence rate was 40% and time to recurrence was 202.8 ± 164.1 days. In patients with idiopathic recurrent pericarditis (RP), increased frequencies of HLA-A*02, -Cw*07 and -DQB1*0202 alleles were found. Notably, no patient with RP exhibited HLA-DRB1*04 and -DQB1*0302 alleles. Patients with RP exhibited lower CD4+/CD45RA+ naïve T cells (p = 0.03) than controls, and higher CD8+DR+ activated T cells (p = 0.01) than patients without recurrence and controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HLA alleles may confer either susceptibility or resistance to AIP and RP. Circulating T-cell subpopulations may also predict RP. A combination of the above parameters might help to better define patients prone to recurrence.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Cardiology, Hippokration Hospital, University of Athens, Athens, Greece. glaz35@hotmail.com
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lazaros
authors.forename: Apostolos
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karavidas
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Spyropoulou
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tsiachris
authors.forename: Antonios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Halapas
authors.forename: Achilleas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zacharoulis
authors.forename: Sophia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arapi
authors.forename: Vasiliki
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Matzaraki
authors.forename: Kostantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Papadopoulos
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Korres
authors.forename: Aliki
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iniotaki
authors.forename: Vlassis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pyrgakis
authors.forename: Christodoulos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stefanadis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010493:Pericarditis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D012008:Recurrence; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets
chemical_list: D006680:HLA Antigens