HLA type of patients with coeliac disease and malignancy in the west of Ireland

HLA, A, B, and DR typing was done on seven of 10 patients with lymphoma, and six patients with carcinoma, all of whom had a flat small intestinal mucosa. Sixty-nine per cent (nine of 13) had HLA B8 and 71% (five of seven) had DR3. The corresponding levels for the local coeliac population are 76% and 84% respectively and the local non-coeliac population 43% and 44%. Two of the patients with lymphoma had a child with coeliac disease. The histological type of the lymphoma was malignant histiocytosis of the intestine in seven, histiocytic lymphoma in two, and was not classifiable in one. The similarity of the HLA type suggests that the flat mucosa in both groups is due to coeliac disease.