Association of HLA-B5 with clinical expression and severity of Behcet's disease in Israel

There were 55 Israeli patients with Behcet's disease (BD) included in a stu dy conducted to determine the correlation between HLA-B5 and clinical manif estations and severity of the disease. The systemic manifestations of ED we re analyzed in relation to HLA typing, and a systemic severity score for ED was calculated according to potential morbidity and mortality associated w ith various clinical features. Of the 55 patients, 42 (76.4%) were sephardi c Jews, 2 (3.6%) were ashkenazi Jews, and 11 (20.0%) were Israeli Arabs. Th ere were 39 (70.9%) HLA-B5 positive patients; they had a significantly high er incidence of thrombophlebitis and a lower rate of erythema nodosum. The HLA-B5-positive patients were significantly older at disease onset, and the ir severity score tended to be higher, although not statistically significa nt. The results of our study imply that HLA-B5 in Israeli patients is associate d with specific clinical features, especially more vascular disease, and ma y be associated with a more severe course of ED. This is of general interes t because American and North European patients also have less HLA-B5 and le ss severe disease.