Study of HLA class I/IL and T lymphocyte subsets in Kuwaiti vitiligo patients

HLA polymorphisms of class I and class II MHC were investigated in 40 Kuwaiti vitiligo patients and in 40 controls using microcytotoxicity assay. HLA-B21, Cw6 and DR53 were increased significantly in patients compared to controls (P = 0.00001, 0.00001 and P = 0.0053 respectively) while HLA-A19, DR52, were significantly decreased (P = 0.00236, 0.05, respectively). Total T-cells, T4 and T8 were measured as CD2, CD4 and CD8 respectively by flow cytometry. Vitiligo patients showed significant increase in CD4 compared to controls (P = 0.03). Our findings suggest that HLA-B21 and Cw6 and DR53, are susceptible genes of vitiligo, while A19 and DR52 are protective genes in the Kuwaiti population.