Comparison Distribution of HLA-B Alleles in Mexican Patients with Takayasu Arteritis and Tuberculosis

A possible relationship between Takayasu arteritis (TA) and Tuberculosis (Tb) has been suggested. Both diseases present similar chronic inflammatory lesions and occasionally granulomas on the arterial walls. The genetic relationship between these two diseases has not been explored before, however, both diseases have been associated with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to analyze the distribution of HLA-B alleles in TA (n = 40) and Tb (n = 34) patients and healthy controls (72 exposed and 99 nonexposed). HLA-B alleles were determined by reverse dot blot. The statistical methods used included the Χ2, and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals. In spite of the loose clinical relationship between TA and Tb, we did not detected any genetic relationship between them when the HLA-B alleles were analyzed in these groups of patients. On the contrary, we detected distinct specific HLA-B alleles for each disease. TA was characterized by HLA-B39, -B44, and -B52, pulmonary Tb by HL-B35 and extrapulmonary Tb by HLA-B39 and -B40. This preliminary study suggests a difference in the distribution of HLA-B alleles in patients with TA and Tb.