Sequencing-based typing of HLA-B*51 alleles and the significant association of HLA-B*5101 and -B*5108 with Behçet's disease in Greek patients

Tissue Antigens. 2002 Feb;59(2):118-21. doi: 10.1034/j.1399-0039.2002.590207.x.

Abstract

Behçet's disease (BD) is widely known to be strongly associated with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) B51 in many different ethnic groups.Recently, HLA-B51 allele typing of Greek BD patients was performed to study the distribution of B*5101-B*5107 alleles in this Greek population, the B51 antigen strongly associated with BD was found to be predominantly encoded by allele B*5101. As it is now known that the B51 antigen can be encoded by 21 alleles, B*5101-B*5121, we performed HLA-B*51 allele genotyping among 58 Greek patients with BD. After serological HLA typing, typing of HLA-B*51 alleles was performed using the polymerase chain reaction-sequencing-based typing (PCR-SBT) method. The frequency of the B51 antigen was found to be significantly higher in the patient group as compared with the control group (75.9% of patients vs 22.0% of controls. In the genotyping of B51 alleles, 34 out of 44 B51-positive patients possessed B*5101, 13 out of the 44 carried B*5108. In contrast, all of the 9 B51-positive normal controls carried B*5101. This study revealed a strong association between Greeks with BD, both B*5101, B*5108, provided important insights into the molecular mechanism underlying the association between HLA status, this disease.

MeSH terms

  • Alleles*
  • Behcet Syndrome / ethnology
  • Behcet Syndrome / genetics*
  • Greece / ethnology
  • HLA-B Antigens / analysis
  • HLA-B Antigens / genetics*
  • HLA-B Antigens / immunology
  • HLA-B51 Antigen
  • Histocompatibility Testing / methods
  • Humans
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA

Substances

  • HLA-B Antigens
  • HLA-B51 Antigen