Adult celiac disease associated with HLA-DRw3 and -DRw7.

Celiac disease (CD), which occurs in Europe with varying frequency, is known to be associated with HLA-B8 and even more strongly with HLA-Dw3 because of the high linkage disequilibrium between these two antigens. After typing for HLA-A, -B and -DR antigens in adult patients with CD, we can confirm the high prevalence of B8 (72.7%) and of DRw3 (63.7%). However we find that DRw7 is also significantly increased (54.5%); DRw3 and DRw7, taken together, represent 86% of our 22 patients.