Dubaniewicz A
Pulmonology Department, University Medical School, Gdańsk, Poland.
Arch Immunol Ther Exp (Warsz). 2000;48(1):47-50.
The aim of the present study was the analysis of the association between particular class II HLA antigens and the incidence of tuberculosis in northern Poland. HLA-DR antigens in a group of 26 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and 58 healthy volunteers were determined. Histocompatibility typing was performed by the PCR-SSP method using primers from the Dynal company. For statistical analysis, the chi2 test was used with Yates' correction. The probability values were weighted for the number of antigens tested (pc). The relative risk (RR) was calculated by Woolf's method. We found that HLA-DR16(2) antigen expression was significantly higher in patients with tuberculosis than in the tested group of healthy controls (p < 0.001, pc < < 0.01); the highest relative risk (RR = 12.4) of tuberculosis incidence was connected with DR16(2) antigen, the prevalence of HLA-DR13(6) antigen was significantly lower in pulmonary tuberculosis (with RR = 0.09) than the control (p < 0.001, pc < 0.01). The results obtained suggest that the presence of HLA-DR16(2) antigen can extend the risk of developing tuberculosis whereas HLA-DR13(6) antigen occurrence was significantly more rare in pulmonary tuberculosis than in healthy individuals and that the relative risk (RR = 0.09) can be connected to their relation with the genes of insusceptibility to tuberculosis.
