Influence of HLA-DQ2 and DQ8 on severity in celiac Disease.

BACKGROUND

HLA-DQB1*02 homozygosity was shown to be more common in patients with complicated rather than uncomplicated celiac disease (CD).

GOALS

To study HLA-DQA1 and DQB1 profile in adult patients with different forms of CD, including patients with complicated and potential CD, the most affected and the most preserved histologic end of the pathologic celiac spectrum.

STUDY

HLA-DQA1 and DQB1 molecular typing was performed in 218 adult CD patients (169 with uncomplicated CD, 27 with complicated CD, and 22 with potential CD) and 224 healthy stem cell donors. HLA-DQA1 and DQB1 gene polymorphism was analyzed using polymerase chain reaction sequence-specific primers and/or reverse polymerase chain reaction sequence-specific oligonucleotides techniques.

RESULTS

As expected, the frequency of HLA-DQB102 allele, DQB102 homozygosity, and DQB10302 gene were statistically different in the 4 groups. However, multivariate analysis demonstrated that patients with potential CD have a higher frequency of both HLA-DQB10302 and HLA-DQB10603 alleles and a reduced frequency of DQB102 homozygosity compared with patients with uncomplicated and complicated CD.

CONCLUSIONS

The increased frequency of DQB10302 and the reduced frequency of DQB102 homozygosity in potential CD is consistent with the idea that different clinical/pathologic evolutions might be related to different immunogeneses. This could be clinically relevant in the future.