title: No association between HLA-DRB1 alleles and susceptibility to advanced stage endometriosis in a Korean population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aetiological factors of endometriosis still remain poorly understood. While there is growing evidence that genetic and immunological factors play important roles in the pathogenesis of the disease, HLA-DRB1 alleles have been reported to be associated with the risk of endometriosis in Japanese populations. This study was performed to determine whether susceptibility to advanced endometriosis is also associated with HLA-DRB1 alleles in a Korean population, which is the closest ethnic group to Japanese.
  
  
  METHODS
  We recruited 100 Korean patients with advanced endometriosis confirmed by surgical and histolological examinations. HLA-DRB1 genotyping was carried out in two steps. Low to intermediate resolution typing was performed by PCR sequence-specific oligonucleotide hybridization method, followed by high resolution typing utilizing group-specific amplification and PCR-single strand conformation polymorphism method. Distribution of HLA-DRB1 alleles was compared with that of 800 unrelated ethnically matched individuals as well as 108 healthy female subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Genotyping revealed that the distribution of HLA-DRB1 alleles in patients with advanced endometriosis was not different from that in the two control groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings of the present study suggest that susceptibility of advanced endometriosis is not associated with HLA-DRB1 alleles in a Korean population, which is apparently not the case in the Japanese population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul Paik Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Dong Hee
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Whang
authors.forename: Sung Hoon
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Young Min
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Myoung Hee
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Ji Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Noh
authors.forename: Yong Bong
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008875:Middle Aged; D014591:Uterine Diseases / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains