Premium
Vitiligo is associated with a significant increase in HLA‐DR6 and a decrease in DQw2 antigens in Northern Italian patients.
Author(s) -
Valsecchi R.,
Bontempelli M.,
Cainelli T.,
Leghissa P.,
Landro A.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of the european academy of dermatology and venereology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.655
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1468-3083
pISSN - 0926-9959
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-3083.1995.tb00427.x
Subject(s) - vitiligo , medicine , immunology , human leukocyte antigen , antigen , pathogenesis , haplotype , histocompatibility , immune system , disease , phenotype , population , major histocompatibility complex , allele , gene , genetics , biology , environmental health
Background Pathogenesis of vitiligo is still unclear; although the mechanism of melanocyte destruction is not know, reports of abnormalities in immunoregulation and immune reactivity in these patients support the autoimmune theory of the disease. A wide variety of autoimmune disorders have been associated with HLA antigens, and at the present time there are conflicting results about the association between vitiligo and HLA phenotypes. Objective and methods To determine if some increases in certain HLA antigens in the Northern Italian population suffering from vitiligo exist, we studied 33 patients, and we compared the results obtained with those observed in 443 control subjects of the same geographical area. Results HLA‐DR and DQ typing showed a statistically significant increase of DR6 antigen and a statistically significant decrease of DQw2 type. The comparison of the phenotype frequencies of the loci A,B and C observed in the patients and in the control group showed no statistically significant differences after the p correction. Conclusion This study showed that genes in or closely linked to the HLA‐DR and DO regions of the major histocompatibility complex could influence susceptibility to vitiligo in Northern Italian patients.