HLA and alcoholic cirrhosis.

In fifty-seven patients with alcoholic cirrhosis the frequency of HLA-DR2 was found to be 47.4%, in contrast to 26.1% in 119 normal subjects and 14.0% in 43 cases of autoimmune-type chronic active hepatitis (CAH). The frequencies of HLA-DR3 in the three respective groups also differed, being 24.6%, 31.9% and 74.4%. The greatly differing HLA-DR profiles in alcoholic cirrhosis and CAH point to immunogenetic differences in predisposition to these two liver diseases.