The aim of the study was the analysis of the frequency of HLA class I antigens in the Polish population of children suffering from coeliac disease and their families, as well as the estimation of the relative risk of incidence, etiologic fraction (EF) and preventive fraction (PF) indexes. Forty-six probands' families were included in the typing: 69 children with coeliac disease confirmed clinically and histologically, 49 healthy siblings and 91 parents. The HLA antigens were typed with routine Terasaki an McClelland's two-stage microcytotoxic assay in NIH modification. The following antigens occurred significantly more frequently (p<0.0000...1) in phenotypes of children with coeliac disease: HLA-A1 (c2 = 35.90; RR = 4.3; EF = 0.44), -B8 (c2 = 88.20; RR = 8.8; EF= 0.58) and Cw7 (c2 = 55.24; RR = 7.5; EF = 0.69). The positive correlation for the specificity of HLA-A1, -B8 was proved also in siblings (c2 = 16.03; c2 = 18.10) and parents (c2 = 15.67; c2 = 32.67). The presence of antigens HLA-A1, -B8 in the phenotype may be the risk factor predisposing for the manifestation of hypersensitivity to gluten.

Keywords: coeliac disease, phenotype frequencies, class I antigens, HLA system