HLA antigens and nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease in Korean patients

Background: Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) molecules are known to play an important role in host-defense mechanisms. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between HLA alleles and lung disease caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in Korean patients. Methods: Seventy-eight patients with NTM lung disease (48 patients with Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex [MAC] infection and 30 patients with Mycobacterium abscessus infection) were included in the study. HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction using sequence-specific primers. Data from 485 healthy Korean individuals were used as a control. Results: When compared to controls, patients with NTM lung disease showed an increased frequency of DRB111 (OR = 1.91, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01-3.64, p = 0.045, corrected p [pC] > 0.05). In the subgroup analysis, patients with MAC lung disease had an increased frequency of B 46 (OR = 2.23, 95% CI = 1.05-4.73, p = 0.044, pC > 0.05). Conclusions: Our data suggest that in a Korean population, patients with NTM lung disease and healthy subjects differ in the frequencies of some HLA alleles. However, when considering corrected p values, our findings are inconclusive.