ABSTRACT
A variety of human diseases are associated with certain human-leukocyte-antigens (HLA) at a higher frequency than is found in the control population. This chapter reviews the reported associations between psoriasis and the Major histocompatibility complex: in Caucasian populations and in Orientals, in the various clinical subtypes of psoriasis, and in psoriasis vulgaris when it is associated with seronegative polyarthritis. It discusses the relevance of the HLA data in understanding the psoriatic disease process. Psoriasis, a skin disease characterized by epidermal hyperproliferation, is transmitted in a pattern most consistent with a dominant mode of inheritance with multifactorial influence of phenotypic expression. The fact that psoriasis is associated with HLA B, C, and D locus antigens can be explained in several ways. In 1972, T. J. Russell et al and J. G. White et al. reported that the frequency of the HLA distribution in psoriatic patients differs from that in control populations.
