Relationship between human leukocyte antigen-DRB1 and autoimmune hepatitis type I in Chinese patients.
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the association of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DRB1 with autoimmune hepatitis type I (AIH) among Chinese patients in the Shanghai area.


METHODS
In 32 patients and 48 healthy controls, polymerase chain reaction amplified with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) was performed to elucidate the relevance of certain alleles or polymorphic sequences of HLA-DRB1 with autoimmune hepatitis.


RESULTS
The HLA-DRB1 typing by PCR-SSP showed that DR4 had a significantly increased frequency among patients with AIH versus that of healthy controls (46.9 vs 20.8%; relative risk = 3.35, P = 0.014). In the subtypes of DR4, there was a trend of an increase in the gene frequency of DRB1*0405 in patients with AIH versus that of healthy controls (21.9 vs 6.3%, P = 0.04, but corrected P (Pc) = 0.08). In addition, our analysis indicated a significant increase in the alleles frequency encoding Leu-Leu-Glu-Gln-Lys-Arg (LLEQRR) from the third hyperpolymorphic region (HVR3) of DR4 in the patients with AIH (86.7% of DR4 positive patients vs 40.0% in DR4 positive controls, P = 0.016, Pc = 0.028, relative risk (RR) = 9.75).


CONCLUSIONS
Type I AIH among Chinese patients is associated with HLA-DR4. There is a relevance of type I AIH and LLEQRR sequence within the third hyperpolymorphic region of the DRB1 allele.
Qiu
De-Kai
DK
Shanghai Renji Hospital, Shanghai Institute of Digestive Disease, Shanghai Second Medical University, Shanghai, China. dekaiqu@sh163.net
Ma
Xiong
X
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D020816:Amino Acid Motifs / Q000235:genetics; D044466:Asian People; D000939:Epitopes / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D015804:HLA-DR4 Antigen / Q000235:genetics; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D019693:Hepatitis, Autoimmune / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values
D000939:Epitopes; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D015804:HLA-DR4 Antigen; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains