P51 THE ASSOCIATION OF ALOPECIA AREATA WITH HLA IN KOREA

Hyung-ok, Kim, Hyun-Jeong, Lee, Dept. of Dermatology, The Catholic University of Korea, College of medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Background: Although the etiology of alopecia areata is unknown, genetic and immunologic mechanisms have been suggested. There have been many reports of HLA association with alopecia areata in Western countries, but there has been only one report of HLA association with this disorder in Asian, which studied only association with HLA class 1.

Material and method: 70 patients of alopecia areata and 100 normal subjects were participated in this study with analysis of serological HLA types. We also studied differences of distribution of HLA alleles in subgroups clustered by clinical types and family history.

Results: The frequency of HLA-B8, B62, DRB1*04 was significantly increased in alopecia areata and the frequency of HLA-B8 was significantly increased especially in alopecia totalis and universalis group (p<0.05). Patients with non-familial alopecia areata showed significant increase in the frequency of HLA-B8, B62 (p<0.05), with the association of milder clinical presentation with HLA-B62 and more severe one with HLA-B8.

Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that HLA-B8, B62, DRB*04 may be general marker-allele for alopecia areata and HLA-B8 may represent a genetic marker for severe alopecia areata in Korean.