HLA TYPING OF ULCERATIVE COLITIS IN IRAN

Abstract

Ulcerative colitis is an acute or chronic inflammatory bowel disease that diffusely involves the colonic mucosa. the etiology of ulcerative colitis is unknown. the involvement of genetic factors in ulcerative colitis is suggested by some reports of familial occurence anil the immune abnormalities found in patients and their unaffected female relatives. A number of disease with unknown etiology, familial prevalence, and immune abnormalities have been shown to be associated with HLA antigens. Aiming to clarify whether or not development of ulcerative colitis is associated with HLA antigens in our patient population, we studied the distribution of HLA A, li ami C antigens in 30 Iranian patients suffering from ulcerative colitis-using the standard microiymphotoxitcity technique and compared it with normal Iranian population. There was no significant difference in the distribution of class I HLA antigens in the patients with ulcerative colitis compared to controls. lower frequencies of A10, B14, B15, IBW63 and CW3 were found in the patients group, compared to controls (p<0.05, p<0.03, p<0.02, p<0.03 and p<0.0077 respectively). Tliese decreases, however were not significant after correction for the number of antigens tested, there differences may explain a different genetic background.