title: Association between the frequency of class II HLA antigens and the susceptibility to intrauterine infection of hepatitis B virus.
abstract: Multiple factors determine the susceptibility to intrauterine hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. These factors include the HBV structure, HBV mutation, HBV DNA level, placental barrier, the immune status of the mother, and the genetic make-ups of the newborn infants. Since HLA system is an integral component of the immune response, we hypothesized that the highly polymorphic HLA genes are the key determinants of intrauterine HBV infection. In this study, we selected newborn infants of HBsAg-positive mothers, and divided the infants into 2 groups: intrauterine infection group and non-intrauterine infection group according to the status whether or not they were infected at birth. Each infected infant was compared with 2 controls from the same birth cohort. HLA-DR allele typing was performed using a PCR-sequence specific primer (PCR-SSP) for 24 subjects with intrauterine infection and 48 controls without infection. We found that, among the fifteen (15) HLA-DR alleles assessed, HLA-DRB1*07 was the one, and the only one, significantly in excess (OR = 6.66, P = 0.004) in the intrauterine infection group compared to the non-intrauterine infection group. Our findings thus suggest that high frequency of HLA class II molecules, e.g. HLA-DRB1*07, is associated with the susceptibility of the infants to intrauterine HBV infection.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Disease Control, Prevention, Academy of Military Medical Science, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yuan-yong
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Ji-yun
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Yan-wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Hong-bin
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Hui-hui
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Lei-li
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Shen-long
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jian-qiu
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Qiao
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000635:transmission*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines / Q000276:immunology; D006515:Hepatitis B virus; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000276:immunology; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D007136:Immunoglobulins