The aetiology of Behçet's disease (BD) is still unknown, but genetic and environmental factors are involved. HLA‐B*51 is considered a susceptibility marker and some MICA alleles have also been associated. Cytotoxic T lymphocytes have been suggested as responsible for BD lesions by engaging MICA through NKG2D surface molecules. In the present study, HLA‐B and MICA alleles were typed by polymerase chain reaction using sequence‐specific primers, in 165 healthy Spanish controls and 42 BD patients. In the healthy group, MICA*008 (28.48%), MICA*004 (17.58%), MICA*002 (14.24%) and MICA*009 (9.39%) were the predominant alleles and the most common haplotype was MICA*004‐B*44 (12.12%). MICA*001 (5.15%), MICA*004, MICA*011 (4.54%) and MICA*018 (5.15%) were more frequent, and MICA*010 (1.81%) and MICA*008 were less prevalent than in other Caucasoid populations. Similar results have been reported in North African individuals and this could support the hypothesis of a common ancestral origin of both populations. The frequencies of MICA*009 and MICA*019 were significantly increased in our BD patients in comparison with controls: 22.62% versus 9.39% and 10.71% versus 1.81% respectively. The increase of MICA*019 had not been described in other BD cohorts, and it corroborates the genetic heterogeneity at MICA locus in BD patients. High‐affinity MICA alleles for NKG2D were more frequent in controls than in patients. Moreover, high‐affinity alleles were not found in homozygous BD patients. These results argue against the hypothesis of an autoaggressive response in BD patients through MICA–NKG2D interactions.

This is a randomized trial to compare the immunoglobulin G response and the antibody avidity after two pneumococcal vaccinations, conjugated pneumococcal vaccine (CPV) and polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccine (PPV) 4 weeks after vs. PPV alone in 202 HIV-infected adults. There were no differences in the two strategies, either in the percentage of immunoglobulin G two-fold increase for the CPV included serotypes or immunoglobulin G two-fold increase, reaching the level of 1 microg/ml except for serotype 23F (26% responded after conjugated pneumococcal vaccine + PPV vs. 14% after PPV). No avidity increases were seen in any strategy.

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