HLA-DRB1 alleles of susceptibility and protection in Iranians with autoimmune hepatitis

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is an uncommon autoimmune liver disease of unknown etiology. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of HLA-DRB1 alleles in Iranian patients with AIH and investigate the association between HLA alleles and the different types of the disease. Fifty-four AIH patients and 100 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were subjected to low resolution HLA-DRB typing performed by polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) technique. The results revealed higher frequencies of HLA-DRB1¹03, and DRB1¹13 alleles in patients with AIH compared to controls. However, DRB1¹11 was less frequent in AIH patients. In type I AIH patients HLA-DRB1¹03, HLA-DRB1¹04, HLA-DRB1¹08, and HLA-DRB1¹13 were the most frequent alleles. While in type II, the most frequent alleles were HLA-DRB1¹07 and HLA-DRB1¹13. The seronegative patients showed more frequency of HLA-DRB1¹03 and HLA-DRB3. In contrary, the frequency of HLA-DRB1¹11, HLA-DRB1¹15 and HLA-DRB5 in type 1 was less than healthy individuals. These findings indicate the role of HLA-DRB haplotypes in AIH susceptibility and protection, in the Iranian population.