title: Meta-analysis of the association between HLA-DRB1 allele and rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility in Asian populations.
abstract: The aims of this study were to summarize results on the association of HLA-DRB1 with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Asians and to determine if the shared epitope (SE) hypothesis could explain the meta-analysis results. Among the papers published between January 1987 and July 2006 on RA susceptibility in Asian-Mongoloid populations (Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Thai), 12 were selected for the metaanalysis. Mongoloid-Asian patients with RA had significantly higher frequencies of HLA-DRB1*0101, *0401, *0410, and *1001 than controls (OR 1.5-2.1, p<0.05 for association). When analyses were restricted to more ethnically homogeneous populations, HLA-DRB1*0405 showed a significant susceptibility to RA in Koreans (OR 5.65, 95% CI 4.32-7.39), whereas the HLA-DRB1*0301, *0403, *0406, *0701, *1301, and *1405 alleles showed protective association with RA (OR 0.32-0.70, p<0.05 for association). In conclusion, it was found that HLA-DRB1 *0101, *0401, *0405, *0410, and *1001 are susceptible, while HLA-DRB1* 0301, *0403, *0406, *0701, *1301, and *1405 are protective in Asian-Mongoloids. All the RA-associated alleles except DRB1*0301 could be explained by the structural model supporting the SE hypothesis that RA susceptibility is determined by the combination of amino acid residues at HLA-DR beta71 and beta74, not by beta71 alone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Kyung Ran
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Jun
authors.forename: Sung Eun
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Choong Hwan
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Cha
authors.forename: Heung Bum
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Yong Seok
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Heo
authors.forename: Hong Yup
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: Kwan Jeh
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000235:genetics*; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; C553502:HLA-DRB1*03:01 antigen