Takayasu's arteritis is associated with HLA-B*52, but not with HLA-B*51, in Turkey.
BACKGROUND
HLA-B*51 and HLA-B*52 are two close human leukocyte antigen (HLA) allele groups with minor amino acid differences. However, they are associated with two different vasculitides (HLA-B*51 in Behçet's disease and HLA-B*52 in Takayasu's arteritis (TAK)) and with major clinical and immunological differences. In this study, we aimed to screen a large cohort of TAK patients from Turkey for the presence of HLA-B*51 and HLA-B*52 as susceptibility and severity factors.


METHODS
TAK patients (n = 330) followed at a total of 15 centers were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 37.8 years, and 86% were women. DNA samples from the patients and healthy controls (HC; n = 210) were isolated, and the presence of HLA-B*51 or HLA-B*52 was screened for by using PCR with sequence-specific primers.


RESULTS
We found a significant association of HLA-B*52 with TAK (20.9% vs HC = 6.7%, P = 0.000, OR = 3.7, 95% CI = 2.02 to 6.77). The distribution of HLA-B*51 did not differ between TAK patients and HCs (22.7% vs 24.8%, OR = 0.9, 95% CI = 0.60 to 1.34). The presence of HLA-B*52 decreased in late-onset patients (> 40 years of age; 12.0%, P = 0.024, OR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.20 to 0.91). Patients with angiographic type I disease with limited aortic involvement also had a lower presence of HLA-B*52 compared to those with all other disease subtypes (13.1% vs 26%, P = 0.005, OR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.23 to 0.78).


CONCLUSIONS
In this study, the previously reported association of TAK with HLA-B*52 in other populations was confirmed in patients from Turkey. The functional relevance of HLA-B*52 in TAK pathogenesis needs to be explored further.
Department of Physiology, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Capa 34093, Istanbul, Turkey.
Ziver
Z
Sahin
Muge
M
Bıcakcıgil
Kenan
K
Aksu
Sevil
S
Kamali
Servet
S
Akar
Fatos
F
Onen
Omer
O
Karadag
Zeynep
Z
Ozbalkan
Askin
A
Ates
Huseyin Te
HT
Ozer
Vuslat
V
Yilmaz
Emire
E
Seyahi
Mehmet A
MA
Ozturk
Ayse
A
Cefle
Veli
V
Cobankara
A Mesut
AM
Onat
Ercan
E
Tunc
Nursen
N
Düzgün
Sibel Z
SZ
Aydin
Neslihan
N
Yilmaz
İzzet
İ
Fresko
Yasar
Y
Karaaslan
Sedat
S
Kiraz
Nurullah
N
Akkoc
Murat
M
Inanc
Gokhan
G
Keser
F Aytul
FA
Uyar
Haner
H
Direskeneli
Güher
G
Saruhan-Direskeneli
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D005838:Genotype; D059949:HLA-B51 Antigen / Q000235:genetics*; D059950:HLA-B52 Antigen / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D013625:Takayasu Arteritis / Q000235:genetics*; D014421:Turkey
D059949:HLA-B51 Antigen; D059950:HLA-B52 Antigen