Original The HLA-B*51 Allele is strongly associated with Behcet Disease in an Argentinean population

Objective: To assess the association between the HLA-B*51 allele and Behc , et Disease (BD) in Argentinean patients. Methods: We enrolled 34 consecutive Argentinean patients with definitive diagnosis of BD between October 2016 and March 2017. None of the patients had the HLA-B*51 allele determined at study entry. Unrelated controls ( n = 240) were randomly obtained from the national cadaveric donor database. Demographic and clinical features of the patients were recorded by attending physicians through a questionnaire. Results: Mean age of cases was 42 years old. Nineteen (55.8%) were male, and the mean age at diagnosis was 35 years old; twenty (58.8%) were Mestizos, 8 (23.5%) were Caucasian, and 6 (17.6%) were Amerindi- ans. Thirteen (38.2%) of 34 cases were HLA-B*51 allele positive; 11 were heterozygous and 2 homozygous for the allele. Thirty-four (14.2%) of 240 controls were positive for the HLA-B*51 allele. The association between BD and HLA-B*51 allele was greater than that of control group (OR = 3.75; p = 0.0012). Conclusions: The HLA-B*51 allele is strongly associated with BD in Argentinean patients. Our finding is consistent with previous studies indicating that the HLA-B*51 allele is an important susceptibility gene in BD regardless the geographical region and ethnicity. (C) 2018 Elsevier Espan a, S.L.U. and Sociedad Espanola de Reumatologa y Colegio Mexicano de Reumatologa. All rights reserved.