Objective: To analyze the association between alleles of HLA-DRB1 and type I autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) in patients from Shanghai, China.
Methods: In 32 Chinese patients with type I AIH and 48 healthy controls in Shanghai area, polymerase chain reaction amplification with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) was performed to examine the association of the alleles of HLA-DRB1 and its subtypes with type I AIH.
Results: HLA-DRB1 typing by PCR-SSP showed that DR4 had a significantly increased frequency among patients with AIH versus healthy control (46.9% versus 20.8%; relative risk=3.35, chi(2)=5.99, P=0.014). No other alleles differed significantly between the two groups. In subtypes of DRB1*04, there was a trend for an increase in gene frequency of DRB1*0405 increased in patients with type I AIH versus healthy controls (21.9% vs 6.3%, chi(2)=4.23, P=0.04, but Pc=0.08). The frequency of arginine at position HLA-DR beta 71 of third hypervariable region significantly increased among patients with AIH versus healthy control (46.9% versus 18.8%, chi(2)=7.14, P=0.008).
Conclusions: Type I AIH in Chinese patients of Shanghai area is associated with HLA-DR4 and arginine at position DR beta 71 of third hypervariable region