title: Association of HLA class I and class II alleles with susceptibility to endometriosis.
abstract: Although the exact etiology of endometriosis is unclear, several lines of evidence support roles for both cell-mediated and humoral immunity in its pathogenesis. To assess the association between HLA genotypes and endometriosis, we investigated the frequencies of HLA-A, -B, -C, and -DRB1 antigens or alleles in 123 Japanese patients with endometriosis and 165 healthy women as controls. Significant positive association with endometriosis was observed for HLA-B7 (OR = 2.7, 95% CI = 1.5-5.1, p(u) = 0.0022, p(c) = 0.0440) and for Cw*0702 (OR = 2.1, 95% CI = 1.2-3.3, p(u) = 0.0026, p(c) = 0.0398). An increased frequency of DRB1*0101 was observed in endometriosis patients compared with control subjects (OR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.2-4.4, p(u) = 0.0143), but was not statistically significant after correction for multiple comparisons. Two-locus analysis indicated that the susceptibility to endometriosis was primarily associated with B7, and that the increased frequencies of Cw*0702 and DRB1*0101 in patients reflected the linkage disequilibrium between B7 and Cw*0702 and DRB1*0101. Most of the B7 antigens were encoded by the B*0702 allele, which was in complete linkage disequilibrium with A24, Cw*0702, and DRB1*0101. Therefore, our results indicated that the HLA-A24-B*0702-Cw*0702-DRB1*0101 haplotype was associated with endometriosis susceptibility. Our findings may provide an important clue to elucidating the pathogenesis of endometriosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kyoto, Japan. kitawaki@koto.kpu-m.ac.jp
authors.forename: Jo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kitawaki
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Obayashi
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kado
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ishihara
authors.forename: Hisato
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Koshiba
authors.forename: Etsuko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maruya
authors.forename: Hiroh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Saji
authors.forename: Mitsuhiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohta
authors.forename: Goji
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Naoto
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Toshikazu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Honjo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005805:Genes, MHC Class I; D005802:Genes, MHC Class II; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D015234:HLA-A Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D059871:HLA-A24 Antigen; D015793:HLA-B7 Antigen / Q000235:genetics; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D015234:HLA-A Antigens; D059871:HLA-A24 Antigen; D015793:HLA-B7 Antigen; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains