Association of HLA class I alleles with aloplecia areata in Chinese Hans.
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.
Xiao
Feng-Li
FL
Insititute of Dermatology & Department of Dermatology at No.1 Hospital, Anhui Medical University, 69 Meishan Road, Hefei, Anhui 230032, PR China.
Yang
Sen
S
Yan
Kai-lin
KL
Cui
Yong
Y
Liang
Yan-Hua
YH
Zhou
Fu-Sheng
FS
Du
Wen-Hui
WH
Gao
Min
M
Sun
Liang-Dan
LD
Fan
Xing
X
Chen
Jian-Jun
JJ
Wang
Pei-Guang
PG
Zhu
Ya-Gang
YG
Zhou
Shun-Ming
SM
Zhang
Xue-Jun
XJ
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
D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen; D015791:HLA-A3 Antigen; D015796:HLA-B27 Antigen; D004247:DNA