HLA-DQB-1 CODON-57 AND GENETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY TO TYPE-1 (INSULIN-DEPENDENT) DIABETES-MELLITUS IN FRENCH CHILDREN

Variations in the incidence rate of Type 1 (insulindependent) diabetes mellitus might relate to ethnic-specific genetic backgrounds. HLA-DQB 1 alleles were typed in 75 French diabetic children and 85 matched control children. Enzymatically-amplified DQB 1 exon 2 was hybridized with oligoprobes specific for the six most common alleles. Alleles coding for an Asp residue at position 57 in the DQβ chain are strongly negatively associated with Type 1 diabetes in the French population. Nevertheless, one of the diabetic children was an Asp 57 homozygote (DQB 1.2/3.1). Among alleles coding for a residue other than Asp at position 57, alleles 3.2 and 2 (Ala 57) are positively associated with diabetes but not allele 1.1 (Val 57) which is less frequent in diabetic children than in control children. Heterozygosity for 2/3.2 alleles is the genotype most strongly associated with diabetes (Odds ratio = 52.9). Large comparative population studies will be necessary to determine whether the frequency of DQB 1 alleles positively associated with Type 1 diabetes (2 and 3.2) in a given ethnicity is related to its incidence rate in the same population. © 1990 Springer-Verlag.