Behcet's disease associated with HLA-B51 and DRw52 antigens in Italians

Thirty-eight Italian patients with Behcet's disease, all with ocular involvement, (28 complete type and ten incomplete) were typed for HLA A,B,DR, and DQ antigens. A significant increase of HLA-B51 (p less than 0.00001) and DRw52 (p = 0.045) with no significant difference between complete and incomplete syndrome was found. The involvement of B51 antigen as the main immunogenetic factor in the disease is suggested by the high value of relative risk (RR = 16.03). However, the association with the II class antigen DRw52 (RR = 2.77) cannot be easily explained as a secondary association due to linkage disequilibria with B51.