title: Association of the HLA-G 14 bp polymorphism with systemic lupus erythematosus.
abstract: Human leukocyte antigen-G (HLA-G) is a nonclassical class I major histocompatibility complex molecule which is induced at the course of inflammatory pathologies, and its expression has been suggested as a possible mechanism of tissue protection against autoimmune inflammatory responses, therefore acting as a mechanism of immune surveillance. We investigated the influence of the 14 bp polymorphism of the HLA-G gene on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) by analyzing 293 patients with SLE and 460 healthy controls. The patient's group was not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, presenting an excess of heterozygotes (P = 0.014). The heterozygote group exhibited lower systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity indexes than the homozygous deletion group and the homozygous insertion group (mean value = 2.29 against 2.97 and 3.4, respectively, P = 0.035). Photosensitive patients showed a higher frequency of heterozygotes and an equivalent lower frequency of homozygotes for deletion; on the other hand, patients without arthritis presented a higher frequency of heterozygotes than the arthritis group and also a lower frequency of the del/del genotype. Overall, our results support the idea of a role of the HLA-G insertion/deletion polymorphism and therefore a role for the HLA-G molecule, on the pathology of SLE.
authors.affiliation: Genetics Department, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: T D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Veit
authors.forename: E A A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Cordero
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mucenic
authors.forename: O A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Monticielo
authors.forename: J C T
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Brenol
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Xavier
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delgado-Cañedo
authors.forename: J A B
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Chies