New insights into the pathogenesis and therapy of Behçet's disease.

Behçet's disease is a chronic multisystem inflammatory disease characterized by the predominance of Th1 cytokines. The human leukocyte antigen-B 51 gene is associated with the disease in several ethnic groups, but it is not certain whether it is the susceptibility gene or if it is in linkage disequilibrium with other genes. Recent studies of polymorphisms of neighboring, as well as distant, genes to human leukocyte antigen-B 51 are helpful in elucidating the pathogenesis of the disease and could have therapeutic implications.