One of the prices we pay for our love of jewelry is allergic contact hypersensitivity to metal, an autoimmune condition that variably afflicts around 10% of all Caucasians (1). Contact hypersensitivity is a classic type IV DTH (delayed type hypersensitivity) response, involving primed T cells that are specific for metal modified antigens generated at a local site in the body (most commonly the ...

Human major histocompatibility complex (MHC) alleles can be used as markers for a wide variety of autoimmune and other disorders. The interpretation of and possible bases for these associations can be considered in relation to conserved extended MHC haplotypes (CEHs). The latter are fixed stretches of up to several million base pairs of genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). CEHs constitute at le...