GENETIC-ANALYSIS OF DILATED CARDIOMYOPATHY - HLA AND IMMUNOGLOBULIN GENES MAY CONFER SUSCEPTIBILITY

To identify genetic factors in the immune system which control the susceptibility to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), HLA class II DNA typing was performed in 61 Japanese patients, using PCR/SSO probe analyses. The frequencies of HLA-DQB1*0503 (15% vs 5%; RR=3.06, chi2=7.19) and DQB1*0604 (21% vs 10%; RR=2.41, chi2=6.20) were significantly increased and that of HLA-DQB1*0502 (RR=1.74) was slightly increased in the DCM patients. The frequency of DQB1*0303 (16% vs 31%; RR=0.44, chi2=5.16) was significantly decreased in the patients. The increased HLA-DQB1 alleles have a histidine residue in common at the 30th codon for the HLA-DQ beta chain. Among the genetic markers studied by Southern blot analyses, IGLV (immunoglobulin lambda light chain, pV3.3) showed a strong association with DCM, i.e. A2/A2 genotype was found in 37.7% of patients whereas it was observed in only 18.9% of the control subjects (RR=2.6, chi2=7.77). The frequency of this genotype was higher in patients, under age 45 years at the time of diagnosis (45.5%, RR=3.6, chi2=10.02). These results suggest that HLA and immunoglobulin genes are closely linked to susceptibility to DCM.