Effect of HLA on development of asthma.

BACKGROUND

Asthma is a disease characterized by a chronic inflammation of the airways caused by the interaction of genetic susceptibility with environmental factors. Inflammation and remodeling are critical components of asthma. It is shown that many genes are involved in the pathogenesis of asthma.

AIM OF STUDY

To identify/compare the association between HLA-DRB1 alleles and development of asthma in a sample of Iraqi Arab Muslims.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A case-control study (forty patients and forty healthy control) was carried out in Medical city Teaching Hospital, Baghdad-Iraq. The study participants were patients with asthma consulted the hospital from September - 2013 to January - 2015. HLA -DRB1genotyping was done using a panel of sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes (SSOP) using HLA-DRB1amplification and hybridization kits (SSO HLA type DRB1 plus and Mastermix for HLA type DRB1 Amp plus kits -Innogenetics-Belgium) using automated method by AutoLipa - 48Innogenetics-Belgum.

RESULTS

There was an increased frequency of HLADRB103:01:01 in control group compared with patients group (P = 0.009, Odds ratio = 0.1228, 95% CI: 0.0254-0.5930). Other allele like HLA-DRB1 070101was significantly increased in asthmatic patients in compares with control group (P = 0.005, Odds ratio = 6.641, 95% CI: 1.7319-25.4657).

CONCLUSIONS

HLA alleles have an effect on development asthma in patients with HLA-DRB1070101 while HLADRB1 030101 may have a protective effect in Iraqi Arab Muslims individuals against development of asthma.