ABSTRACT
Purpose: Behçet disease (BD) is predominantly found between East Asia and the Mediterranean basin along the historic Silk Road. HLA-B51 is known to be strongly associated with BD. We investigated the association between HLA-B51 and the ocular manifestations of BD among various ethnic groups.
Methods: A literature survey was conducted, and 18 articles written in English were reviewed.
Results: A strong correlation was found between HLA-B51 and ocular lesions in the entire cohort discussed in the reviewed articles (OR = 1.76, p = 0.000057). HLA-B51 was shown to have a strong association with ocular manifestations of BD patients in East-Eurasian (OR = 2.40, p = 0.0030) and Middle-Eurasian (OR = 1.87, p = 0.0045), but not in West-Eurasian (OR = 1.28, p = 0.35) areas. This correlation seemed to become stronger towards the east.
Conclusions: A meta-analysis showed that the correlation became stronger towards the east along the Silk Road. The study results may facilitate understanding of the etiology and characteristics of BD.
FUNDING
This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (KAKENHI); a Grant-in-Aid for Research on Specific Diseases from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare of Japan; and a Grant-in-Aid for the 2014–2015 Research Project of the Research Institute of Personalized Health Sciences, Health Sciences University of Hokkaido.