Association between hepatitis B virus infection and HLA-DR type in Korea.
Although the mechanism of susceptibility to chronic persistent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is not well clarified, immunogenetic factors of the host may have a role. Recently, a strong association between HLA-DR13 and the self-limited course of HBV infection has been reported. To determine whether the elimination of HBV is related to a particular HLA allele, we studied the HBV markers and HLA-DR phenotypes of 1,272 Koreans who had visited Yonsei University Medical Center for renal transplantation. They included 330 renal transplant donors. Subjects were categorized into 3 different groups: the "Unexposed Group" (UE; n = 946) with negative HBV markers, the "Chronic Carrier Group" (CC; n = 83), who were hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive, and the "Spontaneously Cleared Group" (SC; n = 243), who were HBsAg-negative with antibodies to HBsAg (anti-HBs) and hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc). HLA-DR4 was the most common type in all groups. HLA-DR6 was significantly more frequent in 69 of 243 subjects with SC (28. 4%) than in 8 of 83 subjects with CC (9.6%) (P <.001; relative risk [RR] = 3.72). HLA-DR9 was significantly more frequent in CC than in SC (P <.001; RR = 0.33). HLA-DR13 showed a stronger association with the clearance of HBV than the other HLA-DR6 subgroup. The distribution of HLA-DR phenotypes was similar regardless of renal disease. Our data indicate that HLA-DR6, especially HLA-DR13, is one of the host factors, which influences the immune response to HBV, and may be associated with self-elimination of HBV in Koreans.
Ahn
S H
SH
Department of Internal Medicine, Institute of Gastroenterology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Han
K H
KH
Park
J Y
JY
Lee
C K
CK
Kang
S W
SW
Chon
C Y
CY
Kim
Y S
YS
Park
K
K
Kim
D K
DK
Moon
Y M
YM
D000328:Adult; D002353:Carrier State / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000145:classification*; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000276:immunology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D010641:Phenotype; D012075:Remission, Spontaneous
D006684:HLA-DR Antigens