Association of pulmonary tuberculosis and HLA in south India

In 204 patients with smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis HLA-A10, B8 and DR2 were more frequently found than in 404 control subjects (p = 0.01); the greatest attributable risk (0.29) was associated with HLA-DR2. The radiographic extent of disease was also associated with HLA-DR2 (p = 0.0001). In 152 patients with smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis, the frequencies of HLA-A10 and B8, but not DR2, were greater in the control subjects (p = 0.001 and 0.01 respectively). HLA-DR2 may be involved in the pathogenesis of advanced pulmonary tuberculosis. Study of endogamous, genetically disparate populations (caste) revealed other HLA associations (A3, B12 and DR4) unique to them, suggesting that genes linked with the HLA complex might also be significant in the pathogenesis of tuberculosis.