Published by Munksgaard, Copenhagen, Denmark No part may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the author(s)
HLA and Hemophilus Influenzae Disease A. Tejani, M. Fotino, R. Khan, B. Dobias and B. Nangia Department of Pediatrics, The Methodist Hospital, Brooklyn, New York, and The New York Blood Center
Received for publication 1 1 October, accepted 1 1 October 1976
In order to determine whether there is a genetic predisposition t o the development of invasive type b H. 'flu disease, we studied the HLA haplotypes of eight patients who had recovered from invasive H. 'flu b disease. Seven of the children suffered from H. 'flu meningitis and one child had suffered from epiglottitis. Five' of the children were of Caucasian origin and three were of Hispanic origin. Methodology Peripheral blood lymphocytes were HLA typed in all eight patients, their siblings and their parents. HLA typing was done on lymphocytes isolated from the peripheral blood by ficoll-isopaque gradient centrifugation. A two-stage microcytotoxicity test (NIH technique) was performed, using 3 50 different mono- and multi-specific sera. Sera were obtained: (a) locally, (b) from the serum bank of NIH and (c) from the 1975 American Workshop.
Results Differences between the HLA gene frequencies of patients with H. 'flu type b disease and the normal population were observed amongst both the Caucasian and the Hispanic children.
HLA phenotype A2 812
Normal* (Caucasian)
H'flu type b patients
43.12% 23.22%
80% 40%
450 New York population data.
HLA Phenotype B12
Normal. (Hisoanicf.
H'flu type b patients
21%
66%
- .
100 New York population data.
These preliminary findings suggest that there may be increased susceptibility to development of invasive type b disease with certain HLA phenotypes, and more patients should be studied to confirm this.
Detailed information can be obtained from The HLA and Disease Register in Copenhagen (address: Arne Svejgaard, Tissue Typing Laboratory, Rigshospitalet, Blegdamsvej 9, 2100 Kgbenhavn 0 , Denmark).
NEWSLETTER
Tissue Antigens (1977), 9,132
Published by Munksgaard, Copenhagen, Denmark No part may be reproduced by any process without written permi...