HLA antigens as immunogenetic markers of alcoholism and alcoholic liver disease.

HLA antigens were studied among 94 chronic alcoholics. Concerning A and B-loci, there was no significant change of phenotype frequency (PF) in the HLA typing between the patients and controls (80 healthy subjects). However, there was a significant difference in the PF of CW3 between chronic alcoholics and controls (58.5% in alcoholics vs 30.0% in controls). The corrected p value was less than 0.05 with relative risk value being 3.29 HLA-DR loci were also detected in 26 patients, but there was no significant difference between the patients and controls. All alcoholics were subdivided according to the hepatic morphology, and the PF of HLA was examined. A significant high frequency of HLA CW3 was found in patients with hepatitis (64%) compared to controls (30%). There was also an increased PF of CW3 in the liver cirrhosis group (59% in cirrhosis group vs 30% in controls). In conclusion, chronic alcoholics have a significantly higher PF of HLA-CW3 as compared to controls. This characteristic feature becomes even more distinct in alcoholics with severe hepatic lesions.