Abstract Background How HLA-A26 modulates Behçet’s disease (BD) ocular lesions such as iridocyclitis and retinochorioiditis has not been scrutinized. Methods Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan provided us… Click to show full abstract
Abstract Background How HLA-A26 modulates Behçet’s disease (BD) ocular lesions such as iridocyclitis and retinochorioiditis has not been scrutinized. Methods Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan provided us a database of BD patients who were registered from 2003 to 2014. We selected patients who satisfied International Criteria for BD and whose data for HLA-A26 was available. Results Eligible 557 patients consisting of 238 men (42.7%) and 319 women (57.3%), whose median age was 38 years old (interquartile range 29–47) were analyzed. Prevalence of general ocular lesions, iridocyclitis, retinochorioiditis, and chronic lesions were 43.1%, 30.7%, 34.1%, and 17.4%, respectively. The prevalence of ocular lesions was higher among HLA-A26 carriers compared to that among HLA-A26 non-carriers with odds ratio (OR) of 2.5 (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.8–3.5, p < .001) for general ocular lesions, OR of 2.5 (95% CI 1.7–3.6, p < .001) for iridocyclitis, OR of 2.8 (95% CI 1.9–4.0, p < .001) for retinochorioiditis, and OR of 2.7 (95% CI 1.7–4.3, p < .001) for ‘chronic ocular lesion following iridocyclitis or retinochorioiditis’. The HLA-A26 had a similar impact on ocular lesions between HLA-B51 positive and negative cases (Breslow-Day test, p > .05). However, the HLA-A26 had a larger impact on iridocyclitis for men compared to women (Breslow-Day test, p = .040). The male HLA-A26 carriers had higher risk of iridocyclitis with OR of 3.4 (95% CI 2.0–5.9, p < .001), while the OR for women was 1.5 (95% CI 0.9–2.6, p = .146). Conclusion HLA-A26 carriers had higher risk for iridocyclitis and retinochorioiditis. However, the impact was more prominent for men.
               
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