Determination of HLA antigen in Behcet’s disease

HLA B₅,B₈,B₁₂, B₂₁, And B₂₇ were determined in 44 cases with Behcet’s disease （BD） and 40 cases of control patients. The results showed that 56.82% （25/44） were B₅ positive, 11.36% （5/44） were B₈ positive 43.18% （19/44） were B₁₂ positive, 36.36% （16/44） were B₂₁ positive and 20.45 （9/44） were B₂₇ positive, It was noted that complete BD was mostly B₅ positive （77.78%）, and 64.71% of them had organ involvement. Among B₈ positive patients, 4 （80%） of them were complete BD with organ involvement. Six out of 9 B₂₇ positive BD patients had sacroiliitis. It was surprised to note that 68.75% of B₅ positive BD patients had tuberculosis infection. We conclude that determination of HLA B₅,B₈,B₁₂、B₂₁, and B₂₇ is helpful for the diagnosis and classification of BD. Furthermore, there are high prevalences of organ involvement and tubercuiosis infection among B₅ positive BD, while B₂₇ positivity is closely related to sacroiliitis.