HLA-DRB genotypes in Japanese patients with renal cell carcinoma

The polymorphism of HLA-A, -C, -B, -DRB3/4/5, -DRB1, -DQB1 loci in Zhejiang Han population, China using NGS technology

The distributions of HLA allele and haplotype are various in the populations. Currently, the data for HLA alleles and haplotypes at three fields resolution level in Chinese Han population is rare. Here, the HLA alleles and haplotypes of the 1734 cord blood samples from Zhejiang Han population, China were reported at three fields resolution. All samples were randomly collected from the Zhejiang Cord Blood Bank, China. HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1, -DQB1, -DRB3/4/5 loci was genotyped using next generation sequencing method. The genotypes of the samples were assigned using the HLA TypeStream Visual Software version 1.2.0. The frequency of alleles, haplotype estimation and linkage disequilibrium analysis were performed with the Arlequin software 3.5.2.2. It was found that the top three frequent alleles of HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1, -DQB1, -DRB3/4/5 loci were A*11:01:01 (25.81%), A*24:02:01 (16.70%), A*02:01:01 (10.61%); B*40:01:02 (15.97%), B*46:01:01 (11.48%), B*58:01:01 (7.96%); C*07:02:01 (19.03%), C*01:02:01 (17.65%), C*03:04:01 (10.41%); DRB1*09:01:02G (17.96%), DRB1*12:02:01 (9.57%), DRB1*08:03:02 (9.54%); DQB1*03:01:01G (21.05%), DQB1*03:03:02 (19.15%), DQB1*06:01:01G (12.08%); DRB4*01:03:01 (25.72%), DRB3*02:02:01 (20.27%), DRB5*01:01:01 (10.96%), respectively. A total of 1528 distinct A∼C∼B∼DRB3/4/5∼DRB1∼DQB1 haplotypes were estimated, and the top three most common haplotypes were A*33:03:01∼C*03:02:02∼B*58:01:01∼DRB3*02:02:01∼DRB1*03:01:01∼ DQB1*02:01:01 (4.02%), A*30:01:01∼C*06:02:01∼B*13:02:01∼DRB4*01:03:01∼ DRB1*07:01:01 ∼DQB1*02:02:01 (3.11%) and A*02:07:01∼C*01:02:01∼B*46:01:01 ∼DRB4*01:03:01∼DRB1*09:01:02G∼DQB1*03:03:02 (3.05%). Some alleles of different HLA loci were shown strong linkage disequilibrium. In conclusion, the data of allele and haplotype of HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1, -DQB1 and -DRB3/4/5 loci at three fields resolution level were obtained in Zhejiang Han population, thus contributing to analyze the HLA ploymorphism in the populations.

Association between DLA-DRB1.2 allelic diversity and development of mammary gland tumors in dogs

Background

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is the best-characterized genetic region related to resistance/susceptibility to a wide range of infectious and immune-mediated diseases. Evidences suggest that MHC class II genes may play an important role in developing different types of tumors including breast cancer. Canine mammary gland tumors (CMTs) are the most common neoplasms in female dogs. In the current study, the association of canine MHC class II DLA-DRB1.2 genotypes with development of mammary gland tumor profiles in dogs was investigated. DLA-DRB1.2 allelic diversity was determined in 40 dogs (18 CMT cases and 22 controls) using HRM technique and DNA sequencing. Association of the DLA-DRB1.2 genotypes with CMT profiles was expressed as odds ratio (OR).

Results

Based on the histopathological typing of tumors, CMT cases were categorized into 4 groups: simple carcinoma, complex carcinoma, carcinoma arising in a benign tumor and special types of carcinoma. A total of eight HRM profiles (A to H) were identified in dogs sampled. The association study revealed a significant correlation between DLA-DRB1.2 genotypes with different CMT profiles. The E genotype was significantly associated with increased risk of carcinoma arising in a benign tumor, and the B genotype represented a positive correlation with complex carcinoma. Significant association was also observed between the heterozygosity of DLA-DRB1.2 genotypes and decreased risk of developing tumor in dogs.

Conclusions

These results provide additional support for the association between DLA-DRB1 genes and development of mammary gland tumors in dogs and could potentially be used for early diagnosis of neoplasia and identifying susceptible dogs.

HLA-B*40:02 and DRB1*04:03 are risk factors for oxcarbazepine-induced maculopapular eruption

OBJECTIVE

Oxcarbazepine (OXC) is a widely used antiepileptic drug for the treatment of partial seizures that was developed through structural variation of carbamazepine. Although OXC has a lower risk of cutaneous adverse drug reactions (cADRs) than carbamazepine, cADRs ranging from maculopapular eruption (MPE) to the more severe Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis still limit the use of OXC in some patients. A few human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-related genetic risk factors for carbamazepine-induced cADRs have been identified. However, the HLA-related genetic risk factors associated with OXC-induced cADRs are unknown.

METHODS

A total of 40 patients who experienced OXC-induced MPE and 70 patients who were tolerant to OXC treatment were included in the study. Genomic DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood of these patients, and high-resolution HLA genotyping was performed.

RESULTS

The HLA-B*40:02 and HLA-DRB1*04:03 alleles were significantly associated with OXC-induced MPE compared with the OXC-tolerant group (odds ratio [OR] 4.33, p = 0.018 and OR 14.64, p = 0.003, respectively) and the general Korean population (OR 4.04, p = 0.001 and OR 3.11, p = 0.019, respectively). The HLA-B*15:01 genetic frequency was significantly lower in the OXC-MPE group compared to the OXC-tolerant group (OR 0.18, p = 0.016) and the Korean population (OR 0.22, p = 0.030). The allele frequencies of well-known HLA-related risk factors for carbamazepine-induced cADRs (HLA-B*15:02, A*31:01 and B*15:11) were not different among the three groups.

SIGNIFICANCE

This study is the first to demonstrate an association of HLA-B*40:02 and HLA-DRB1*04:03 with OXC hypersensitivity using a large cohort of patients with OXC-induced MPE. These findings should be confirmed in future studies in different ethnic groups.

HLA-DRB1 alleles are associated with the susceptibility to sporadic Parkinson's disease in Chinese Han population

Immune disorders may play an important role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Recently, polymorphisms in the HLA-DR region have been found to be associated with sporadic PD in European ancestry populations. However, polymorphisms in the HLA complex are highly variable with ethnic and geographic origin. To explore the relationships between polymorphisms of the HLA-DR region and sporadic PD in Chinese Han population, we genotyped 567 sporadic PD patients and 746 healthy controls in two independent series for the HLA-DRB1 locus with Polymerase chain reaction-sequence based typing(PCR-SBT). The χ(2) test was used to evaluate the distribution of allele frequencies between the patients and healthy controls. The impact of HLA-DRB1 alleles on PD risk was estimated by unconditional logistic regression. We found a significant higher frequency of HLA-DRB1*0301 in sporadic PD patients than in healthy controls and a positive association, which was independent of onset age, between HLA-DRB1*0301 and PD risk. Conversely, a lower frequency of HLA-DRB1*0406 was found in sporadic PD patients than in healthy controls, with a negative association between HLA-DRB1*0406 and PD risk. Furthermore, a meta-analysis involving 195205 individuals was conducted to summarize the frequencies of these two alleles in populations from various ethnic regions, we found a higher frequency of HLA-DRB1*0301, but a lower frequency of HLA-DRB1*0406 in European ancestry populations than that in Asians, this was consistent with the higher prevalence of sporadic PD in European ancestry populations. Based on these results, we speculate that HLA-DRB1 alleles are associated with the susceptibility to sporadic PD in Chinese Han population, among them HLA-DRB1*0301 is a risk allele while the effect of HLA-DRB1*0406 deserves debate.

The relationship between human leukocyte antigens (HLA) and renal cell carcinoma

Etiologies of Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) are not clear despite of the fact that many risk factors have been suggested. Especially in high stages RCC can affect the immune system in various ways. Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA) may play a complementary role in the activation between the tumor and immunity. Our aim was to determine the existence of the relationship between HLA system and RCC. By using the standard microlymphocytotoxic method of Terasaki in our study, the HLA A, B, DR and DQ antigen types of 20 patients with RCC Stage T1 and T2 were compared with the control group consisting of healthy 30 people. In our RCC patient group, HLA-A23(9) and DQ7(3) antigens were significantly higher than the control group statistically (p=0.005, p=0.0028; respectively). HLA-A10, DQ1, DR10 and B44 antigens were significantly higher in the control group than the patient group (p=0.011; for all).The findings made us suggest that the people, carrying the antigens which were detected in the patient group, were at high risk for RCC and the people, carrying the protective antigens that were detected in the control group were at less risk for RCC. There may be a dramatic regression for the patients who underwent immunotherapy and HLA expression, which is known to play role in tumor biology, may direct the effects of immunotherapeutic agents. Immunologic description and destruction is avoided in case of change or disappearance of HLA expression by cancer cells. Further investigations which will be performed in our population in the future will be more illuminating to confirm those results. We have concluded that, HLA profiles may be evaluated for detection the people at risk of RCC, the prognosis of the patients and their treatments.

Butyrophilin-like 2 gene is associated with ulcerative colitis in the Japanese under strong linkage disequilibrium with HLA-DRB1*1502

The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region has been implicated in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which is classified into Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Recently, an association between sarcoidosis and the butyrophilin-like 2 (BTNL2) gene was reported. BTNL2 is located in the HLA region and its messenger RNA is expressed most abundantly in the intestine. In this study, we performed a case-control association study of BTNL2 in the Japanese patients with IBD and performed linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis between BTNL2 and HLA-DRB1. We analyzed eight polymorphisms selected after direct sequencing and found that none of the polymorphisms were associated with the Japanese CD cohort. In contrast, five polymorphisms were significantly associated with UC, especially three single nucleotide polymorphisms (BTNL2_19, BTNL2_22 and BTNL2_23) were associated as a haplotype. The most frequent haplotype (GGC haplotype) was a low-risk haplotype (P= 0.000052), whereas the other TCT haplotype was a high-risk haplotype (P= 0.0000085). Among the eight polymorphisms, the strongest association with UC was found in BTNL2_19 (OR = 1.92, P= 0.0000035). As expected, the BTNL2_19-T allele showed strong LD with DRB1*1502 (D'= 0.92). When BTNL2_19 was tested as conditional on the DRB1*1502 carrier status, the significant association disappeared, suggesting that the association was because of its strong LD with DRB1*1502. We conclude that BTNL2 does not contribute to the susceptibility to Japanese CD but is associated with Japanese UC because of the strong LD with HLA-DRB1*1502. The strong LD between BTNL2 and HLA-DRB1 raises another issue about the potential role of BTNL2 in other diseases associated with HLA-DRB1.