Hidradenitis suppurativa. Glucose tolerance, clinical, microbiologic, and immunologic features and HLA frequencies in 27 patients.

Glucose tolerance, lymphocyte populations, and HLA types were studied in 27 patients with untreated hidradenitis suppurativa; 18 of these patients had a negative history for acne vulgaris. Six patients (22%) had an increased incidence of impaired glucose tolerance. We failed to confirm a previous report of high incidence of flat glucose tolerance curves. The frequency of HLA-A and HLA-B antigen loci and the median values of peripheral blood T lymphocytes were similar to the control population. However, seven patients with moderate or severe clinical disease had a marked reduction in T lymphocytes and these patients had an increased frequency of the HLA antigens, A1 and B8. These results suggest that T lymphocytes may play a role in the pathogenesis of hidradenitis suppurativa and that HLA-A1 and HLA-B8 may predispose the patient to more severe disease, but further research is necessary to clarify this.