HLA-A33 and -B44 and susceptibility to postherpetic neuralgia (PHN)

HLA class I and class II alleles of 32 Japanese patients with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) and 136 healthy controls were analyzed by serological (class I) and DNA (class II) typing for any significance in the susceptibility to varicella-zoster virus (VZV). We recognized positive associations of the development of PHN with the HLA class I antigens HLA-A33 and -B44, and the HLA-A33-B44 haplotype. This haplotype is tightly linked to DRB1*1302 in a Japanese healthy population. However, no significant association between PHN and HLA class II alleles was observed with no linkage of the HLA haplotype HLA-A33-B44 to HLA-DRB1*1302 in the patients with PHN. These findings suggest that HLA class I gene may genetically control the immune response against VZV in the pathogenesis of PHN.