No Human Leukocyte Antigen-A, -B or -DR Association in Swedish Patients with Hidradenitis Suppurativa

Abstract

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a cicatrizing, inflammatory and recurrent disease restricted to inverse skin, such as that of the axilla and groin of younger adults. In a previous study, using serological tissue-typing techniques, no significant increases in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A and -B specificities were found in patients with HS. The aim of this study was to determine the frequencies of HLA-A, -B and, for the first time, HLA-DR alleles, using genomic tissue-typing methods in patients with HS. Forty-two unrelated Swedish patients with HS were included and compared with 250 controls. According to clinical staging adopted from Hurley all of the patients had stage II HS, i.e. recurrent abscesses with tract formation and cicatrization and single or multiple widely separated lesions. No association with HLA-A, -B or -DRB1 alleles was found in patients with HS. Genetic factors associated with the HLA class I or II regions do not appear to contribute significantly to the possible genetic susceptibility of HS.

Hidradenitis suppurativa: a common and burdensome, yet under-recognised, inflammatory skin disease

“…No association has been found with HLA-B or HLA-DR types,20 and an initial report suggesting involvement of chromosome 1p21.1–1q25.321 was not confirmed in two large, multigeneration pedigrees (96 individuals, 25 affected) 19. CARD15 polymorphisms were also excluded in a pilot study and a case series 22 23.…”

Hidradenitis Suppurativa

“…35 A later and larger study of HLA in Swedish patients compared with a population sample did not find any HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-DR association. 36 One study describing an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance has also been reported, but the penetrance appeared variable, indicating that other nongenetic factors are involved. 26,37 A later review of the data has renewed the suspicion of a dominant pattern of inheritance in this group of patients using a better clinical definition of the cases.…”

Hidradenitis suppurativa

“…Specific genetic studies have yielded conflicting results. No significant HLA association has been reported [34]. Patients with a family history usually have milder disease with an earlier onset; this raises the question of heterogeneity of HS.…”