THE ROLE OF HUMAN-LEUKOCYTE ANTIGEN IN SUSCEPTIBILITY AND CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF SARCOIDOSIS

Objective, To investigate the correlation of human leukocyte antigen ( HLA) with susceptibility and clinical manifestations of sarcoidosis. M aterial and Methods, Fifty-five patients with sarcoidosis and one hund red and six normal subjects were investigated. Genomic DNAs were purif ied using the proteinase K-phenol extraction method. DNA samples were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedure using the D RB1 group specific primer pairs. Results. The gene frequency of HLA-DR S increased significantly in patients with sarcoidosis HLA-DR7 decreas ed (P<0.05). Gene HLA-DR9 and HLA-DRS increased remarkably in male pat ients and in patients with stage I and stage IIa, respectively (both P <0.05). Conclusions, It is suggested that HLA-DR gene might contribute to the susceptibility as well as various clinical manifestations of s arcoidosis.