Distribution of monocytes subpopulations in the peripheral blood from patients with Behçet's disease - Impact of disease status and colchicine use.

The innate immune response has a predominant role in Behçet's disease (BD) pathogenesis, but few studies have assessed monocytes in BD. This study aims to evaluate the profile of monocytes subsets in the peripheral blood of BD patients and healthy controls (HC). Monocytes subsets were identified as classical (CD14+CD16-), intermediate (CD14+CD16dim), and non-classical (CD14dimCD16high) subsets. Patients with BD presented a lower number of total monocytes (p = 0.020) and a lower number (p < 0.0001) of circulating classical monocytes than HC. In contrast, the number of intermediate monocytes was higher in BD patients than HC (p < 0.0001). In BD patients, no associations were observed with the severity of clinical manifestations or therapy. Colchicine was associated with a higher number of non-classical monocytes (p = 0.035). In conclusion, BD patients present an altered distribution of monocytes subsets with a reduction of classical and an increase of intermediate subsets.

HLA-B*51 and its main subtypes in Brazilian patients with Behçet's disease.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of HLA-B*51 and its subtypes in Brazilian patients with Behçet's disease (BD) and healthy controls (HC) and to assess possible associations with disease manifestations. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with sequential BD patients and HC. HLAB*51 presence was determined by sequence-specific polymerase chain reaction (SSP-PCR) and HLA-B*51 subtypes by the Sanger sequencing method. RESULTS: Eighty-three BD patients and 258 HC were evaluated. HLA-B*51 was found in 30.1% of DB patients and in 15.5% of HC (p=0.003). The most prevalent subtypes in DB patients were HLA-B*51:01 (60.0%), HLA-B*51:08 (20.0%), HLA-B*51:22 (8.0%), HLAB* 51:29 (8.0%) and HLA-B*51:02 (4.0%), while HLA-B*51:01 (77.5%) and HLA-B*51:55 (7.5%) were the most prevalent in HC. HLA-B*51 was less frequently found in patients with neurologic involvement (8.0% vs. 29.3%; p=0.034) while HLAB*51:01 was more observed in patients with ocular involvement (93.3% vs. 60.3%; p=0.014). No BD patient with neurologic or vascular involvement presented HLA-B*51:01. HLAB*51:08 was more frequent in patients with vascular manifestations (60.0% vs. 15.4%; p=0.012). In multivariate analysis, HLA-B*51 was an independent risk factor for BD (OR=2.410; 95%CI: 1.332-4.361; p=0.004) and HLA-B*51:08 had an independent association with vascular manifestations of BD (OR = 14.843; 95%CI: 1.550 - 142.115; p=0.019). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of HLAB*51 is higher in Brazilian BD patients compared to HC, and it is a risk factor for BD. The HLA-B*51:08 subtype was independently associated with vascular manifestations of BD.