The distribution of HLA‐A,B, DR antigens in Chinese Myasthenia Gravis

The association of HLA antigens with Myasthenia Gravis (MG) in many different races is well known. In this study, HLA‐A, B and DR antigens were typed on 65 Chinese MG and 232 controls for HLA‐A, B and 61 for DR antigens. A2 and DRw9 increased significantly in patients with MG (p < 0.025 and p < 0.05 respectively). DR2 and DR4 had the opposite influence (both p < 0.005). Several alleles were shown to have relatively high values of P D/A and relative risk but low P A/D and E.F, which suggests the marker heterogeneity of MG. Comparisons of clinically different types of MG, variations of the age of onset and thymic pathology did not show any statistically significant difference in HLA distributions. The clinical implications were discussed.