HLA Antigens in Patients with Unexplained Hepatitis following Halothane Anesthesia

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Abstract
HLA-A,B,C and DR locus antigens were examined in 38 Japanese patients who had recovered from halothane hepatitis. The patients were divided into 2 subgroups, i.e., jaundice and non-jaundice groups, because the clinical features were quite different in each. DR2 was positive in 14 (58.3%) of 24 patients with jaundice, compared with 281 (33.6%) of the 837 Japanese healthy controls (chi-square with Yates'' correction = 5.30, relative risk = 2.77, P < 0.025). Bw44 was increased in non-jaundice patients (50.0%), compared with 157 (12.7%) of the 1234 Japanese healthy controls (chi-square with Yates'' correction = 13.75, relative risk = 6.86, P < 0.001). The haplotype frequency (Hf) of Aw24-Bw52-DR2 was high in the patients with jaundice (Hf = 0.2362), while it was zero in the patients without jaundice (P < 0.0042). The 2 groups of halothane hepatitis have different genetic backgrounds.