Close association of HLA-B52 and HLA-B44 antigens in Israeli Arab adolescents with recurrent aphthous stomatitis

Objectives: To investigate the incidence and clinical features of recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) among Israeli Arab adolescents and to determine the HLA typing profile in affected subjects. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Junior high school in the largest Arab town in Israel. Participants: Four hundred seventy-seven Israeli Arab junior high school st udents filled out a questionnaire. Students who reported more than 4 episod es of RAS during the previous year were interviewed by telephone. Those who se responses were confirmed were invited to the clinic. Of these, 22 were c hosen at random for HLA typing. Findings were compared with those in 117 he althy Israeli Arabs who were candidate donors of bone marrow to patients at the Institute of Hematology-Oncology, Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, Petah Tiqva. Results: Recurrent aphthous stomatitis was confirmed in 80 subjects (16.7%) . Of the 22 patients who underwent HLA typing, 7 (31.4%) had HLA-B52 antige ns and 8 (36.4%) had HLA-B44 antigens; corresponding figures for the contro l group were 10 subjects (8.5%) (P=.007) and 9 subjects (7.7%) (P=.001), re spectively. Conclusions: There is a close association of HLA-B52 and HLA-B44 in Israeli Arab youths with RAS. Long term follow-up is needed to determine the relat ionship between RAS and Behcet disease.