Human leukocyte antigen-A, -B, -C tissue types in patients with middle ear cholesteatoma.

Two series of consecutive, nonrelated patients with middle ear cholesteatoma verified by operation were tissue typed for human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) in order to demonstrate any associations. The first series (102 patients) showed only a possible increase of HLA-B8 and HLA-A2. Because HLA-B8 is one of the antigens most often involved in associations with organ-specific autoimmune diseases, and because of the close relationship between HLA-B8 and HLA-DR3, the second series (48 patients) was tissue typed for these two antigens. This second series showed a similar increase of HLA-B8/DR3, but the difference was not statistically significant.