Hong Kong Med J 2010;16(Suppl 4):S29-33
Immunogenetics in SARS: a case-control study
MHL Ng, SH Cheng, KM Lau, JJY Sung, BCW Zee, GM Leung, US Khoo
Department of Anatomical and Cellular Pathology, Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
1. Human leukocyte antigen (HL A ) genotypes from 102 SARS patients (susceptible) and 108 SARS contacts (resistant) were obtained.
2. Allelic frequencies of the Class I (HLA-A, -B, and -Cw) and Class II (HLA-DR and -DQ) genes from these genetically unrelated subjects were compared.
3. A significantly higher frequency of DRB4*01010101 was found in the SARS-susceptible than SARS-resistant group. In contrast, significantly higher frequencies of HL A -B*1502 and HL A DRB3*030101 were found in the SARS-resistant than SARS-susceptible group. However, none of these associations was significant after Bonferroni correction. Further, analysis of 10/36 genetically related families did not reveal any HLA alleles associated with SARS susceptibility or resistance.
4. We could not confirm previous findings of an HLA association with susceptibility or resistance to SARS. The significance of these associations needs to be validated by further independent studies.
2. Allelic frequencies of the Class I (HLA-A, -B, and -Cw) and Class II (HLA-DR and -DQ) genes from these genetically unrelated subjects were compared.
3. A significantly higher frequency of DRB4*01010101 was found in the SARS-susceptible than SARS-resistant group. In contrast, significantly higher frequencies of HL A -B*1502 and HL A DRB3*030101 were found in the SARS-resistant than SARS-susceptible group. However, none of these associations was significant after Bonferroni correction. Further, analysis of 10/36 genetically related families did not reveal any HLA alleles associated with SARS susceptibility or resistance.
4. We could not confirm previous findings of an HLA association with susceptibility or resistance to SARS. The significance of these associations needs to be validated by further independent studies.