HLA A9 AND B15 ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE GENERALIZED FORM, BUT NOT THE LOCALIZED FORM, OF EARLY-ONSET PERIODONTAL-DISEASES

HLA PROTEINS ARE GENETICALLY DETERMINED, and account in part for indiv idual immune response. Several studies have been performed seeking an association between HLA antigens and various forms of periodontitis wi th no conclusive results. The aim of the present study was to determin e the frequency of HLA antigens of patients suffering from the localiz ed (LJP) and the generalized (SGP) forms of early-onset periodontitis (EOP). Twenty-six EOP patients from the same ethnic group were studied in comparison to 113 race-matched controls. The EOP group included 11 WP and 15 SGP patients. HLA-A9 and B15 antigens were found to be sign ificantly elevated in the patient group. These differences were found to be due to the high frequency of A9 and B15 antigens in the SGP pati ents, with the LJP patient group showing no significant difference fro m the control group. The results are in agreement with previous studie s in which A9 and B15 were found to be associated with EOP. However, p revious studies did not differentiate between the localized and the ge neralized form of EOP. These results support the hypothesis that the g eneralized and the localized forms of EOP are under different genetic control.