Immunogenetics of mycobacterial infections in the North Indian population.

Several lines of evidence highlight the genetic basis of risk to develop mycobacterial diseases. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DR2 alleles (DRB11501 and DRB11502) have been found to be strongly associated with mycobacterial disease, especially the more severe forms such as lepromatous leprosy and multidrug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis. In this study, DNA-based high-resolution typing techniques of polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific oligonucleotide probe were used to determine the distribution of HLA-DR/DQ alleles in patients with leprosy and pulmonary tuberculosis. Analysis of different DR2 subtypes based on valine/glycine dimorphism at codon beta86 in pocket 1 of HLA-DR showed an inverse relationship of DR2 alleles with V/G as the severity of disease increased both in leprosy and in pulmonary tuberculosis.