Prevalence of HLA-DQ Alleles and Haplotypes in Patients with Hepatitis B Infection

Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether HLA-DQA1 and HLA–DQB1 alleles and haplotypes are associated with progression of HBV infection to liver cirrhosis (LC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in HBV infected patients. Methods: Genotyping of the HLA-DQ variants were carried out in 121 HBV patients (including 52 HBV without LC/HCC and 69 HBV with LC/HCC), using a polymerase chain reaction amplification with sequence specific oligonucleotide (PCR-SSO) technique and Luminex profiling system. Results: The two highest allele frequencies were seen for HLA-DQA1*01 and HLA-DQB1*03. A total of 66% of the HBV patients with LC/HCC and 62% of HBV patients without LC/HCC are carriers of HLA-DQA1*01 (p value= 0.908, OR= 0.95, CI= 0.41 - 2.10). As for HLA-DQB1*03, 73% of the HBV patients with LC/HCC and 60% of HBV patients without LC /HCC are carriers of this allele (p value= 0.320, OR= 1.56, CI= 0.65 - 3.72). In addition, 62% of HBV patients with LC/HCC (n=32) and 48% of HBV patients without LC/HCC (n=25) were carriers of haplotype DQA1*01-DQB1*05 (p value= 0.495, OR= 0.76, CI= 0.34 - 1.68). Conclusion: no association was seen between the HLA-DQA1 and the HLA–DQB1 alleles and haplotypes with HBV disease progression in the Malaysian population.