title: HLA class I supertypes in type 1 diabetic children in an urban children's hospital.
abstract: Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder characterized by progressive destruction of insulin-secreting beta cells of the pancreas, in which CD8(+) T cells play a critical role. The diversity in the HLA alleles expressed among various racial and ethnic groups leads to great variability in antigen presentation and recognition by CD8(+) T cells in the context of MHC class I molecules. To date, studies aimed at identifying disease-relevant antigenic epitopes have focused on using mice transgenic for HLA-A*0201, a common allele, particularly among Caucasians. We present HLA class I typing data from 88 children with type 1 diabetes at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore, where the patient population is ethnically diverse, but largely minority. When categorized into the HLA supertypes A2, A3, B7, and C1, 77% of those studied have alleles belonging to at least one supertype, and of these patients, 65% do not belong to the A2 supertype, which is the supertype represented by the HLA-A*0201 allele. These results support the need for studies using HLA transgenic mice expressing MHC molecules representative of a variety of HLA supertypes, particularly when searching for antigenic epitopes applicable for study among largely urban, minority pediatric populations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Children's Hospital at Montefiore, Bronx, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Zoltan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Antal
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Jarchum
authors.forename: Teresa P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: DiLorenzo
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002673:Child, Hospitalized / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005805:Genes, MHC Class I; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D015234:HLA-A Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen; D006239:Haplotypes; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D015234:HLA-A Antigens; C435939:HLA-A*02:01 antigen; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen