HLA types in celiac disease patients not carrying the DQA1*05-DQB1*02 (DQ2) heterodimer: results from the European Genetics Cluster on Celiac Disease

Genetic susceptibility to celiac disease is strongly associated with HLA-DQA1*05-DQB1*02 (DQ2) and HLA-DQA1*03-DQB1*0302 (DQ8). Study of the HLA associations in patients not carrying these heterodimers has been limited by the rarity of such patients. This European collaboration has provided a unique opportunity to study a large series of such patients. From 1008 European coeliacs, 61 were identified who neither carry the DQ2 nor DQ8 heterodimers. Fifty seven of these encoded half of the DQ2 heterodimer. The remaining 4 patients had a variety of clinical presentations. Three of them carried the DQA1*01-DQB*05 haplotype as did 20/61 of those carrying neither DQ2 nor DQ8. This may implicate a role of the DQA1*01-DQB*05 haplotype. None of these four patients carried the DQB1*06 allele that has previously been reported in this sub-group of patients. Of the 16 DQ2 heterodimer negative patients without DRB1*04 or DRB1*07 haplotypes, it was inferred that none encoded the previously implicated DRB4 gene as none had a DRB1*09 haplotype. These results underline the primary importance of HLA-DQ alleles in susceptibility to celiac disease, and the extreme rarity of celiac patients carrying neither the DQ2 or DQ8 heterodimers nor one half of the DQ2 heterodimer alone.