Association of HLA class I alleles with aloplecia areata in Chinese Hans

Background: Some studies suggested that human HLA status may potentiate development of the AA phenotype and exists ethic differences. No report has been published about HLA class I alleles associated with AA in Chinese Hans. Objective: To study the distribution of HLA class I alleles and haplotypes in Chinese Hans AA patients and the relation of HLA class I profile with age of onset, severity, duration of current attack, past history and family history. Methods: The polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primer (PCR-SSP) method was used to analyze the distribution of HLA class I alleles in 192 patients with AA and 252 healthy controls in Chinese Hans. Results: The frequencies of HLA-A*02, -A*03, -B*18, -B*27, -B*52 and -Cw*0704 were significantly higher in patients than in controls. The A*2-B*18, A*2-B*27, A*2-B*52, A*2-Cw*0704, B*18-Cw*0704, B*27-Cw*0704, B*52-Cw*0704 were found as high-risk haplotypes in developing AA in this study. The HLA-A*02 and -A*03 were observed increased frequencies in patients less than 50% hair loss, and HLA-B*27 equally in patients of 50-99% hair loss, alopecia totalis and alopecia universalis. The frequencies of HL-A-A*02 and -B*27 were significantly raised in recurrent patients, and ones of HL-A-A*02, -A*03 and -B*27 similarly in patients without a positive family history. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the positive association of HLA class I alleles and haplotypes with AA. There may be differences in genetic background in patients with different age of onset, grade of scalp hair loss, duration of current attack, a past history and a family history. (c) 2005 Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.