Adult Celiac Disease Associated with HLA‐DRw3 and ‐DRw7

Abstract
Celiac disease (CD), which occurs in Europe with varying frequency, is known to be associated with HLA-B8 and even more strongly with HLA-Dw3 because of the high linkage disequilibrium between these 2 antigens. After typing for HLA-A, -B and -DR antigens in adult patients with CD, the high prevalence of B8 (72.7%) and of DRw3 (63.7%) was confirmed. DRw7 is also significantly increased (54.5%); and DRw3 and DRw7, taken together, represent 86% of the 22 patients.