title: HLA DRB1 Alleles Discriminate the Manifestation of Autoimmune Hepatitis as Type 1 or Type 2 in North Indian Population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Autoimmune hepatitis is a polygenic disorder of unknown etiology, where genetic factors affect the occurrence and clinical phenotype of the disease. It has been reported as a rare disease entity in the Indian subcontinent. This study was undertaken to investigate the association of HLA alleles with autoimmune hepatitis type 1 and type 2 in north Indian population and to analyze if distinct human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles help in characterization of the subtypes of autoimmune hepatitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-eight patients with autoimmune hepatitis and 128 healthy controls were recruited in the study. Out of 68 patients, 55 were diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis type 1 and 13 with autoimmune hepatitis type 2. The patients and the controls were typed for HLA class II alleles by PCR-SSP method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  HLA DRB1*04 and DRB1*08 were found to be significantly associated with autoimmune hepatitis type 1 in north Indian population. It was also observed that DRB1*04, DRB1*13 were significantly associated with pediatric autoimmune hepatitis type 1 and DRB1*08 was significantly associated with adult autoimmune hepatitis type 1. DRB1*14 was significantly associated with autoimmune hepatitis type 2.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study indicates that autoimmune hepatitis in north Indian population is associated with HLA alleles that may help to discriminate the subtypes as autoimmune hepatitis type 1 and type 2. The study also highlights the ethnic variations in the Indian subcontinent in context to the genetic association of HLA with autoimmune diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunopathology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160012, India.
authors.forename: Navchetan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunopathology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160012, India.
authors.forename: Ranjana W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Minz
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunopathology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160012, India.
authors.forename: Shashi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anand
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunopathology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160012, India.
authors.forename: Biman
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Saikia
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunopathology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160012, India.
authors.forename: Ritu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
authors.affiliation: Department of Histopathology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160012, India.
authors.forename: Ashim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Das
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160012, India.
authors.forename: Babu R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Thapa
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160012, India.
authors.forename: Yogesh K
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Chawla
keywords: AASLD, American Association for the Study of the Liver; AIH, autoimmune hepatitis; ANA, antinuclear antibody; ASMA, anti smooth muscle antibody; CI, confidence interval; HLA, human leukocyte antigen; IAHG, International Autoimmune Hepatitis Group; IIF, indirect immuno florescence; LKM, liver kidney microsomal; MHC, major histocompatibility complex; Mb, megabase; OR, odds ratio; PCR-SSP, polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primers; RR, relative risk; autoimmune hepatitis; ethnic variations; human leukocyte antigen; north India