HLA and antinuclear antibody incidence in asbestos workers

The incidence of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) in asbestos textile workers was compared with the results of HLA typing. HLA B8 antigen was more frequent in the ANA-positive group as compared to the ANA-negative group. The relative risk of this associati-n is 2.77 (p less than 0.02) without correction for the number antigens tested. A decrease in frequency of HLA A10 in workers with ANA was also found. The results suggest that the development of ANA under asbestos hazard may depend on inherited predisposition of which HLA B8 is a marker.