Sporadic pemphigus foliaceus and class II human leucocyte antigen allele associations in the white British and Indo-Asian populations in the UK.

Background: Pemphigus foliaceus (PF) has both genetic and environmental susceptibility factors. Current data on human leucocyte antigen (HLA) in patients with sporadic PF are limited.

Aim: To better define the distribution of HLA alleles in patients with PF in the UK.

TIRAP Ser180Leu polymorphism is associated with Behcet's disease.

Objectives: The initiating cause of Behçet's disease (BD) is unknown, but an aberrant response to infection has been suggested. In this study, single nucleotide polymorphisms in Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and associated molecules that have a sentinel function at mucosal surfaces were analysed in patients with BD.

Methods: TLR expression was determined by immunohistochemistry in buccal mucosal tissue from patients with BD, in tissue from patients with lichen planus (LP) or pyogenic granuloma (PG) as disease controls, or from healthy individuals.

B-cell diversity decreases in old age and is correlated with poor health status.

Older people suffer from a decline in immune system, which affects their ability to respond to infections and to raise efficient responses to vaccines. Effective and specific antibodies in responses from older individuals are decreased in favour of non-specific antibody production. We investigated the B-cell repertoire in DNA samples from peripheral blood of individuals aged 86-94 years, and a control group aged 19-54 years, using spectratype analysis of the IGHV complementarity determining region (CDR)3.