Physiol. Res. 53: 191-197, 2004


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
 


© 2004 by the Institute of Physiology, Czech Academy of Sciences