Juvenile periodontitis – no linkage with HLA‐antigens

Juvenile periodontitis is a severe though relatively rare inflammatory periodontal disorder of young individuals. Its etiopathogenesis is not known, but an altered immune response has been suggested. Strong indications for an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance of the disease has been shown. As full penetrance excludes association to histocompatibility antigens, the possibility of linkage to the HLA antigens was Studied. Three families, each with 2 siblings expressing juvenile periodontitis, were tissue‐typed for HLA A, B, and C locus antigens and 2 families for Dr locus by using the standard two‐stage microcytotoxicity test. It was concluded that it is very unlikely that there would be a linkage between the juvenile periodontitis gene and the HLA antigens.