title: Human leukocyte antigen class II associations with systemic sclerosis in South Africans.
abstract: Human leukocyte antigen class II typing, using polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primers, was performed in 52 Black South Africans with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and 112 controls. Increased frequencies of DR2 in the overall SSc group (OR = 2.4), DRB1*0301 in the limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc) subset (OR = 9.0), and DQB1*0301/4 in the diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc) subset (OR = 9.0) were observed. Pulmonary fibrosis was associated with DRB1*11 and anti-topoisomerase I antibodies were associated with DPB1*1301 and DRB1*15. Patients with anti-fibrillarin antibodies (AFAs) had increased the frequencies of DRB1*1101 allele group (OR = 16) and DQB1*0603/14 (OR = 13.6). These findings provide new serological and immunogenetic data on a previously unreported population. The association of AFAs with class II alleles merits further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital and the University of the Witwatersrand, P.O. Bertsham 2013, Johannesburg, South Africa. tiklym@medicine.wits.ac.za
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tikly
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rands
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: McHugh
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wordsworth
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Welsh
mesh_terms: D000353:Africa, Southern; D044383:Black People; D006681:HLA-D Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D006683:HLA-DQ Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D011658:Pulmonary Fibrosis / Q000276:immunology; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D006681:HLA-D Antigens; D006683:HLA-DQ Antigens; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens