Regional Enteritis: Evidence for Genetic Transmission by HLA Typing

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Abstract
Lymphocytes from kindreds containing 5 sibling pairs affected with regional enteritis were typed to ascertain the association between HLA-A and -B and regional enteritis. The frequency of HLA antigens in 22 patients with nonfamilial cases of regional enteritis was compared to the frequency in 402 normal blood donors. No HLA haplotype was found in > 1 kindred, and no HLA antigen was more prevalent in nonfamilial cases of regional enteritis than in the normal population. In the 5 affected sibling pairs, 4 shared both haplotypes (HLA identical), and 1 shared 1 haplotype. Only 1 unaffected sibling shared 2 haplotypes with an affected proband. The high frequency of HLA identity in affected siblings and the low frequency of identity in unaffected siblings suggest linkage between the histocompatibility locus and the development of regional enteritis. There appears to be a genetic component in kindreds with regional enteritis.