Class I human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-B51 is well known to be associated with Behcet's disease in many ethnic groups. However, there has been no published paper with respect to its association with HLA class I and class II among the Turkish people who live in the eastern region of Turkey. Moreover, as it is known that B51 antigen is encoded by 21 alleles, B*5101-5121, HLA-B51 allele typing was performed, as well as HLA class I and class II genotyping of 75 patients with the disease and the 54 individuals in the matched control group. The result shows that the HLA-B51 frequency was significantly higher (58.66%) in the patient group, compared to that in the control group (18.51%) (OR = 6.245). In the subtyping of B51 alleles, 44 B51-positive patients possessed B*5101 (45.5%), B*5108 (25%), B*5105 (9.1%) and B*5104 (4.5%). There was no significant difference in the HLA-B51 allelic distribution between the patient group and the control group. However, homozygous carriers of HLA-B51 showed considerably high risk (OR = 2.647) in the patient group, compared to that in the control group. In the genotyping of class II HLA alleles, while HLA-DRB1*04 (45.3%) and HLA-DRB1*07 (24%) were the predominant alleles in the patient group, DRB1*11 (50%) appeared to be more common in the control group.

It was noted that the FMF patients in this study had a broad spectrum of mutation combination, which might reflect the intercultural interactions of ancient ethnic groups that lived in Anatolia, and these mutations were not significantly different in respect to clinical presentations.

OBJECTIVE— The aim of the present study was to investigate any relationship between serum ubiquitin levels and electroneurographic changes in peripheral nerves for patients with type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS— The study involved 34 patients(19 men, 15 women; mean age 46 ± 13 years) with type 2 diabetes. Serum ubiquitin values were measured by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Measurement of nerve conduction velocity (NCV) was performed on three motor(median, tibial, and peroneal) and three sensory (median, ulnar, and sural)nerves. The value of motor compound muscle action potential (CMAP) was obtained from the sum of median, tibial, and peroneal motor nerve amplitudes,and sensory compound nerve action potential (CNAP) was computed as the sum of median and ulnar sensory nerve amplitudes. RESULTS— Patients with diabetes were divided into three groups: group 1 (n = 8) had normal electroneurography results, group 2 (n = 8) had slowed NCV, and group 3 (n = 18) had low values of motor CMAP and/or sensory CNAP as well as slowed NCV. Mean ubiquitin level in group 3 (20.4 ± 2.9 ng/dl) was significantly higher than that in group 1 (11.2 ± 1.1 ng/dl, t = 11.5, P <0.0001) and group 2 (13.2 ± 2.7 ng/dl, t = 5.9, P< 0.0001). Serum ubiquitin levels were inversely correlated with motor CMAP(r = -0.68) and sensory CNAP (r = -0.61) values. CONCLUSIONS— The results of this study indicate that there could be a relationship between the diminished amplitudes of axons of the peripheral nerve and the increase in serum ubiquitin levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. Further studies are required to confirm this relationship.

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles have been associated with the clinical outcomes of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, which range from spontaneous recovery to hepatocellular carcinoma. In this study involving subjects from eastern Turkey, the frequencies of HLA-B35, HLA-CW4, HLA-DQ2, and HLA-DQ8 were markedly higher in the chronic HBV group than those in the spontaneously recovered group; the frequencies of HLA-A11 and HLA-A24 in the nonresponsive HBV vaccine group were markedly higher than those in the responsive HBV vaccine group; and the frequency of HLA-CW6 in the nonresponsive HBV vaccine group was significantly lower than in the responsive group. A complete understanding of HLA types associated with the progression to chronic HBV infection and their effects within the cell at the molecular level will be an important contribution in the development of new HBV vaccines and new treatment strategies for chronic HBV infection.

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