Human leukocyte antigens in women with recurrent urinary tract infections

The HLAs of the major histocompatibility complex in humans have been associated statistically with many diseases [1]. The possibility that recurrent UTIs in women are controlled in part by genotypic traits was suggested by the observation that adherence of Escherichia coli in vitro to both vaginal and buccal cells was greater for patients with such infections than for healthy control subjects and that there was a strong correlation between vaginal cell and buccal cell receptivity [2]. A3 antigen was identified in 12 (34%) of the patients. This frequency was significantly higher in patients than in healthy control subjects, but it was not significantly different from the frequency observed in the reference population. After correction for the number of comparisons made, there was no statistically significant difference between patients and control subjects with any other antigen. These data suggest that HLA A3 may be associated with increased risk of recurrent UTIs.