HL-A antigens in Behcet's disease.

Twenty-six patients with Behcet's disease had complete HL-A typing. No patient had an HL-A antigen in significant excess. No patient had an HL-A antigen in significant excess. Only two patients had the B27 antigen: both patients had uveitis, but eight others who also had uveitis were B27 negative. No patient had ankylosing spondylitis or sacroilitis. Behcet's disease, although bearing some clinical resemblances to diseases related to the B27 antigen, i.e. ankylosing spondylitis and Reiter's syndrome, differs from them through the absence of spondylitis and because the association with B27, if it exists, is far weaker than that in ankylosing spondylitis or Reiter's disease.