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Rheumatology 2001; 40: 668-672
© 2001 British Society for Rheumatology

Original Papers

Lack of association of HLA-B*51 with a severe disease course in Behçet's disease

A. Gül, F. A. Uyar1, M. Inanc, L. Öcal, I. Tugal-Tutkun2, O. Aral, M. Koniçe and G. Saruhan-Direskeneli1

Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine,
1 Department of Physiology and
2 Department of Ophthalmology, Istanbul School of Medicine, University of Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey

Objective. To investigate the previously reported association of HLA-B51 with the manifestations and severity of Behçet's disease (BD).

Methods. The study group consisted of 148 consecutive BD patients (89 male, 59 female) with a minimum disease duration of 5 yr followed up at an out-patient BD clinic in a tertiary referral centre. The patients were classified into three severity groups (mild, moderate, severe) using a modified form of the BD total activity index. HLA-B alleles were determined by DNA amplification using the polymerase chain reaction and sequential hybridization with sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes.

Results. The frequencies of genital ulceration [odds ratio (OR)=3.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3–7.5], skin findings (erythema nodosum, folliculitis or acne-like lesions) (OR=4.4, 95% CI 1.1–17.7), a positive skin pathergy test (OR=3.4, 95% CI 1.1–10.9) and eye disease (OR=1.8, 95% CI 0.9–3.7) were all higher in B*51-positive patients. By contrast, no significant association was observed between B*51 positivity and a severe disease course, and B*51 homozygosity did not exhibit a prominent association with the severity of BD. Male sex was found to be the strongest determinant of the severity of BD by logistic regression analysis (OR=4.7, 95% CI 1.9–11.2).

Conclusion. HLA-B*51 does not exhibit a strong association with a more severe disease course in BD. The involvement of other genetic and/or environmental factors seems to be required and to be more important than B*51 for the progression of BD.

KEY WORDS: Behçet's disease, HLA-B51, Uveitis, Homozygosity, Disease severity.

Correspondence to: A. Gul, Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Istanbul School of Medicine, Capa, 34390 Istanbul, Turkey.


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Home page
 Arch OphthalmolHome page
J. K. Ahn and Y. G. Park
Human Leukocyte Antigen B27 and B51 Double-Positive Behcet Uveitis
Arch Ophthalmol, October 1, 2007; 125(10): 1375 - 1380.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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