HLA Antigen Expression in
Autoimmune Endocrinopathies
P. HRDÁ1,2, I. ŠTERZL1,2, P. MATUCHA2, F. KORIOTH3,
A. KROMMINGA3
1Institute of Immunology and Microbiology First Faculty of
Medicine, Charles University, 2Institute of Endocrinology,
Prague, Czech Republic and 3Institute for Immunology, Pathology
and Molecular Biology, Hamburg, Germany
Received November 5, 2002
Accepted April 15, 2003
Summary
The HLA allelic frequency was determined in three groups of
autoimmune endocrinopathies: A) 30 patients with autoimmune
thyroiditis, B) 20 patients with polyglandular activation of
autoimmunity, and C) 10 patients with the autoimmune
polyglandular syndrome type II. The groups were defined by the
clinical state and serological parameters. Healthy blood donors
of Caucasian population from the US database of HLA frequencies
served as the controls. In group A, a higher occurrence of
HLA-A24 (21.7 %) was found as compared to group B (5.0 %) and to
the controls (8.5 %), of HLA-B27 (15.0 %) and of HLA-DR-11 (20
%) as compared to the controls (4.2 % and 8.5 %). In group B, a
higher occurrence of HLA-A3 (25.0 %) was found as compared to
group A (10 %) and to the controls (11.8 %), and of HLA-B8 (22.5
%) as compared to group A (8.3 %) and to the controls (8.6 %).
In this group the occurrence of HLA-DR3 (30.0 %) was higher as
compared to group A (10.0 %) and to the controls (9.8 %) and of
HLA-B8 (30.0 %) as compared to group A (8.3 %) and to the
controls (8.6 %). Genetic markers indicate a similarity of
groups B and C. Patients in these groups could be at different
stages of the same disease, however, some distinctions between
them lead us to consider the possibility whether different
epigenetic factors could extend the difference between these
groups in the course of clinical development.
Key words
HLA • Autoimmune thyroiditis • Autoimmune polyglandular syndrome
type II • Polyglandular activation of autoimmunity
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