Association of MICA Alleles and Human Leukocyte Antigen B in Turkish Patients Diagnosed With Behçet's Disease

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to investigate whether or not MHC class I polypeptide-related sequence A (MICA) polymorphisms are associated with the susceptibility to Behçet’s disease (BD) in a Turkish population. Patients and methods: The study included 38 Turkish BD patients (20 males, 18 females; mean age 34±10.9 years) and 51 ethnically matched healthy controls (30 males, 21 females; mean age 36±12.8 years). MICA and human leukocyte antigen B (HLA-B) alleles were determined in all subjects by using the Luminex technology. LABType® sequence-specific oligonucleotide (SSO) MICA test (One Lambda) and SSO B locus tests (Gene-Probe) were used for the typing studies. Results: A total of 16 MICA alleles were found in BD patients as well as in control subjects. The gene frequency of MICA*006 was significantly higher in the BD patients compared to controls (14.5% vs. 0.9%; odds ratio [OR]: 17.092 95% confidence interval [CI] [2.155~135.554]; p