Journal of Dental Medicine

This review was focused on investigations in the relationship between human leukocyte antigens and periodontal disease. Several studies have looked for relationship between HLA phenotypes and early onset periodontitis (EOP). There have also been reports on both positive and negative relationship between specific HLA antigens and periodontal disease. Positive relationship has been reported among HLA-A1, A9, A24, A28, A33, B15, B22, B35, B44, C4, DR2, DR4, DR7, DR53, DRB1, DQ3 and DQB1 antigens and different forms of EOP. Several studies have reported negative relationship with HLA-A2, A5, A10, A28, A68, B5, DR2 and DR6. Two antigens that appear to be more related to EOP are HLA-A9 and DR4. Evidence suggests that genes in this area are not genes with major effect for early-onset periodontal diseases. It is possible that genes in the MHC region of chromosome 6 may function as modifying genes that affect clinical expression of periodontal disease. However, additional documents are needed to evaluate the relationship of HLA antigens with periodontal disease. These documents should have adequate controls, which account for racial differences in HLA type and well-defined patient groups whose state of disease is described

Statement of Problem:Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is a common oral disorder that despite extensive researches, the etiology of this phenomenon is still unknown. Because this phenomenon has been observed more often in families than in individual cases, genetic influence has been investigated in most researches.
Purpose: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) and aphthous stomatitis more precisely.
Materials and Methods: in this study, 60 patients with RAS were examined for HLA-A and HLA- B types and 37 of them were examined for HLA- DR and HLA-DQ types. The results were compared through Fisher test with those of 25 healthy control subjects, aged more than 30 years.
Results: A significant decrease in the frequency of some antigens such as HLA-DQW 3 and HLA-A 26 in subjects with RAS was observed. Therefore, according to the results of this study, these antigens were considered as resistant antigens to recurrent aphthous stomatitis. In contrast, there was no significant increase in the frequency of any HLA antigens in the test group, compared to the control group. This finding is in contrast with the multiple reports about Behcet's disease. (Because a high frequency of HLA-B 51 has been
found in Behcet's syndrome.)

Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, it is suggested that the pathogenicity of aphthous ulcerations in Behcet's disease and recurrent aphthous stomatitis is not the same. However, further studies are necessary to prove this theory.