title: Association of HLA class I alleles with aloplecia areata in Chinese Hans.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Some studies suggested that human HLA status may potentiate development of the AA phenotype and exists ethic differences. No report has been published about HLA class I alleles associated with AA in Chinese Hans.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study the distribution of HLA class I alleles and haplotypes in Chinese Hans AA patients and the relation of HLA class I profile with age of onset, severity, duration of current attack, past history and family history.
  
  
  METHODS
  The polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primer (PCR-SSP) method was used to analyze the distribution of HLA class I alleles in 192 patients with AA and 252 healthy controls in Chinese Hans.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The frequencies of HLA-A*02, -A*03, -B*18, -B*27, -B*52 and -Cw*0704 were significantly higher in patients than in controls. The A*2-B*18, A*2-B*27, A*2-B*52, A*2-Cw*0704, B*18-Cw*0704, B*27-Cw*0704, B*52-Cw*0704 were found as high-risk haplotypes in developing AA in this study. The HLA-A*02 and -A*03 were observed increased frequencies in patients less than 50% hair loss, and HLA-B*27 equally in patients of 50-99% hair loss, alopecia totalis and alopecia universalis. The frequencies of HLA-A*02 and -B*27 were significantly raised in recurrent patients, and ones of HLA-A*02, -A*03 and -B*27 similarly in patients without a positive family history.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated the positive association of HLA class I alleles and haplotypes with AA. There may be differences in genetic background in patients with different age of onset, grade of scalp hair loss, duration of current attack, a past history and a family history.
authors.affiliation: Insititute of Dermatology & Department of Dermatology at No.1 Hospital, Anhui Medical University, 69 Meishan Road, Hefei, Anhui 230032, PR China.
authors.forename: Feng-Li
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Sen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Kai-lin
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Yan-Hua
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Fu-Sheng
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Wen-Hui
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Liang-Dan
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Xing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Jian-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Pei-Guang
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ya-Gang
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Shun-Ming
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Xue-Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D000506:Alopecia Areata / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005805:Genes, MHC Class I; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen / Q000235:genetics; D015791:HLA-A3 Antigen / Q000235:genetics; D015796:HLA-B27 Antigen / Q000235:genetics; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010641:Phenotype; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen; D015791:HLA-A3 Antigen; D015796:HLA-B27 Antigen; D004247:DNA