HLA-DP antigen and Takayasu arteritis.

Sixty-four patients with Takayasu arteritis and 317 healthy individuals in the Japanese population were examined for HLA-A, -B and -C alleles by serological typing and for HLA-DR, DQ and DP alleles by DNA typing using PCR/SSOP analysis. The frequencies of HLA-Bw52, DRB11502, DRB50102, DQA10103, DQB10601 and DPB10901 alleles were significantly increased and the frequencies of HLA-Bw54, DRB10405, DRB40101, DQA10301, DQB10401 alleles were significantly decreased. Strong linkage disequilibria among the increased alleles and among the decreased alleles were evident in the Japanese population. Therefore, the combination or haplotype of HLA-Bw52-DRB11502-DRB50102-DQA10103-DQB10601 -DPA102-DPB10901 may confer susceptibility to Takayasu arteritis while another combination or haplotype of HLA-Bw54-DRB10405-DRB40101-DQA10301-DQB1++ +0401 may confer resistance to the disease. Because this is the first evidence for the association between an HLA-DP allele and Takayasu arteritis, we examined the nucleotide sequences of the DPB10901 allele from a patient and her healthy relatives and found no difference. The disease is therefore not caused by a mutated DPB1 gene.