HLA-DR17 and Mooren's ulcer in South India.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the association between Mooren's ulcer and human leucocyte antigen (HLA) type DR17(3) in patients from the Tamil Nadu State of South India.

METHODS

Blood samples from 38 patients with Mooren's ulcer and 45 age- and sex-matched controls were obtained prospectively. HLA-DR and HLA-DQ typing was performed by PCR using sequence-specific primers.

RESULTS

Fifteen (40%) of the patients with Mooren's ulcer tested positive for HLA-DR17(3) compared with seven (16%) of the controls (p = 0.01). Seventeen (45%) of the patients also tested positive for the closely linked HLA-DQ2 compared with 11 (24%) of controls (p = 0.05). When adjusted for multiplicity, the correlation between HLA-DR17(3) and Mooren's ulcer remained significant (p = 0.03).

CONCLUSIONS

These data demonstrate an association between HLA-DR17(3) and Mooren's ulcer in South Indian patients, supporting autoimmune theories about the pathogenesis of the disorder.