Histocompatibility antigens in leprosy

Results of HL-A typing are presented in 82 patients with leprosy and 50 normal Filipinos from Cebu, and 144 normal Filipino immigrants from the Luzon area. Comparisons of HL-A antigen frequencies among the total patients and normals of Cebu showed no statistically significant differences; however, HL-A10 was increased in frequency among the patients with lepromatous disease compared to the normals, and HL-A5 was increased among the tuberculoid patients compared to the lepromatous patients. None of these comparisons was statistically significant when corrected for the number of antigens tested. Comparisons of HL-A antigen frequencies between normal Filipinos of the Cebu and Luzon regions showed increased W-5 in the Luzon population (corrected p smaller than 0.025).