The extreme polymorphism in different loci of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system has been used as an invaluable tool for anthropological studies. Determination of HLA allele and haplotype frequencies in different ethnic groups is useful for population genetic analyses and the study of genetic relationships among them. In the present study, molecular analysis of HLA-A, -B, -C, -DQA1, -DQB1...

The association of narcolepsy with HLA-DQB1*0602 is established in Japanese, African-Americans, European, and North American Caucasians. We examined DRB1, DRB3, DRB4, DRB5, DQA1, and DQB1 in 163 patients with centrally mediated daytime sleepiness (100 with narcolepsy) and 211 Korean controls. In this population, the DQB1*0602 association was always evident in the context of the DRB1*1501-DQA1*0...

Celiac disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory disease in the small intestine triggered by gluten uptake that occurs in genetically susceptible individuals. HLA-DQ2 protein encoded by HLA-DQA1*05 and DQB1*02 alleles is found in 90-95% of CD patients. All of the remaining patients carry HLA-DQ8 protein encoded by HLA-DQA1*03 and DQB1*03:02 alleles. Specific HLA-DQ genotypes define different risk ...

Southern Africa is facing an unprecedented public health crisis due to the high prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Vaccine development and testing efforts, mainly based on elicitation of HIV-specific T cells, are under way. To understand the role of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II alleles in HIV pathogenesis and to facilitate HLA-based HIV-1 vaccine design, we ana...

BACKGROUND Certain HLA class II haplotypes have long been related with the risk of developing type 1 diabetes. The presence of the HLA haplotype DRB1*04/DQA1*03/DQB1*03:02, together with specific β-cell autoantibodies, contributes to the development and/or severity of insulin deficiency in type 1 diabetes. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the association of HLA risk haplotype HLA-DRB1/-DQA1/-DQB1 with β...

OBJECTIVE To determine the relationship between highly-conserved extended-haplotypes (CEHs) in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and MS-susceptibility. BACKGROUND Among the ~200 MS-susceptibility regions, which are known from genome-wide analyses of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), the MHC accounts for roughly a third of the currently explained variance and the strongest MS-as...

An Afro-American semi-isolated Colombian population is studied for its HLA genes: San Basilio de Palenque community in Colombia northern mountains. This community represents the first free Africans in America earning recognition by the Spanish Crown in 1691 AD. Nowadays, they also speak the only extant Bantu-Spanish Creole language over the World; these people have been apart from there neighbo...

BACKGROUND/AIMS This study was aimed to determine whether host-dependent genetic factors modulate the outcome of HCV infection. METHODS HLA class II DRB and DQB typing was performed in 184 infected patients and 200 healthy volunteers. Among the patients, 149 subjects had persistent HCV viremia (Group 1) and 35 subjects underwent spontaneous viral clearance (Group 2). Group 1 included cirrhoti...

BACKGROUND Narcolepsy is a neurologic disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, symptoms of abnormal rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and a strong association with HLA-DRB1*1501, -DQA1*0102, and -DQB1*0602. Here, we investigated the clinico-physical characteristics of Korean patients with narcolepsy, their HLA types, and the clinical utility of high-resolution PCR with sequence-spe...

OBJECTIVES Among autoantibodies detected in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), antibodies to 64,000(Mr) islet protein(64k), now recognized as glutamic acid decarboxylase(GAD), appear to be an even more predictive marker of IDDM than islet cytoplasmic antibody (ICA) or insulin autoantibody (IAA). We examined the relationships among 64k autoantibodies, pancreatic beta-cell ...