[HLA and childhood asthma (author's transl)]

In order to study the relationship between human leukocyte antigens (HLA) and the occurrence of childhood bronchial asthma in Chinese, HLA typings were done, by using commercially available HLA immunoplates (Behring, West Germany), in 99 children with allergic bronchial asthma who attended the allergy clinic of the Department of Pediatrics, National Taiwan University Hospital and had been receiving hyposensitization. The results showed: (1) There was no difference in the frequency of HL-A antigens between patients and normals, (2) while HLA-B5 appeared more frequently in patients than in normals (relative risk 2.28-3.18, chi 2 = 15.39, p less than 0.001), HLA-B17 was less often seen in patients than in normals (relative risk 0.19, chi 2 = 33.49 p less than 0.001). It is, therefore, concluded that in Chinese, individuals carrying HLA-B5 have higher chance to be affected by bronchial asthma and those carrying HLA-B17 are less likely to become asthmatics in their childhood.