Human leukocyte antigens class I and II in patients with idiopathic granulomatous mastitis

To determine the distribution of human leukocyte antigens (HLA) in patients with idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM).

The study included 48 patients diagnosed with IGM and 50 controls consisting of healthy donor candidates.

The frequencies of HLA-A*10, HLA-A*2403, HLA-B*18 and HLA-DR*17 antigens were significantly higher in the patient group than control group (p = 0.012, p = 0.012, p = 0.0001 and p = 0.005, respectively). However, the frequencies of HLA-A*29, HLA-B*14 and HLA-DR*1 were lower in the patient group than control group (p = 0.027, p = 0.013 and p = 0.015, respectively). When patients without/with relapse were compared, there was a significant difference in HLA-A*3 (p = 0.048) and HLA-A*32 (p = 0.011). Also, the patients with relapse and control group were compared in respects of HLA-A*10 (p = 0.0006), HLA-A*24 (p = 0.035), HLA-A*32 (p = 0.011), HLA-B*18 (p = 0.035), HLA-B*103 (p = 0.035) and HLA-DR*17 (p = 0.006).

These findings may help to explain etiopathogenesis but still, further studies on this subject with more patients in different geographic regions are needed.