engleski

HLA-DPB1 alleles in children with asthma in the Croatian population

In several studies the HLA class II genetic polymorphism has been implicated in the development of asthma with different results in different populations. Only few of them deal with the HLA-DPB1 alleles particularly in asthma with onset in childhood. The aim of this study was to investigate possible involvement of the HLA-DPB1 alleles in children with asthma in the Croatian population. We have examined HLA-DPB1 polymorphism in 80 unrelated children with asthma and 109 healthy controls. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to the differential phenotypic expression of symptoms: thirty one patient had asthma alone ( group A) while 49 of them had asthma with rhinitis ( group B). Forty patients had low total IgE level (<400 kU/L) and another 40 patients had high total IgE (>400 kU/L). All patients were Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Dp) sensitive ; 34 were Ambrosia elatior (Ae) and/or Dactylus glomerata (Dg) sensitive in adition. Genomic DNA was extracted from periferal blood lymphocytes by standard salting-out method. HLA-DPB1 genotyping was carried out by PCR and followed by hybridization with sequence specific oligonucleotide probes. Results: Using appropriate statistical tests (Fisher exact test and Chi square), no significant association was found between any DPB1 allele and childhood asthma in our population. The distribution of HLA-DPB1 alleles did not show any statistically significant difference neither when comparing group A and group B nor when the patients were divided according to the total serum IgE. Though DPB1*0301 showed higher frequency in the patients with low total serum IgE (16, 25%) in comparison with both, controls (8, 72%) and the patients with high total IgE (7, 5%), the difference did not reach statistical significance. Significant difference (pFish=0, 037) was detected for DPB1*0301 frequency between the patients with high total IgE level (2, 94%) compared to those with low (17, 24%) total serum IgE, all being sensitive to Dp alone. No definitive HLA-DPB1 association could be established with childhood asthma in our population as yet, indicating that further examinations are needed.

HLA-DPB1 ; asthma ; Croatian population

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