HLA-DRB1 antigens in Taiwanese patients with juvenile-onset systemic lupus erythematosus

Objective. This study was done to investigate the frequency of HLA-DRB1 antigens in juvenile-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in the Taiwanese population. Patients and methods. Thirty-four Taiwanese patients with juvenile onset SLE and 200 unrelated healthy controls were studied. HLA-DRB1 typing was performed with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the sequence-specific oligonucleotide probe (SSO) typing method. Result. Among the 14 investigated DRB1 alleles, the frequency of HLA-DRB1*1602 was higher in juvenile onset SLE patients than the controls (15.15% vs 4.50%, odds ratio 3.66, 95% confidence interval 1.15-11.68, P_c = 0.04). Although there were differences in the frequencies of DRB1*0301, DRB1*0803, and DRB1*1501 between patients and controls, the associations were statistically insignificant. Conclusion. The frequency of HLA-DRB1*1602 was significantly higher in patients with juvenile onset SLE than in healthy controls. This finding differs from those in the previous studies in Caucasian and Japanese adult onset SLE patients.