Molecular Typing by Polymerase Chain Reaction Sequence Specific Primers (PCR- SSP) of Human Leukocyte Class I and Class II Alleles in a Sample of Iraqi Visceral Leishmaniasis Patients

This study aimed to investigate the association between HLA alleles and visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in a sample of Iraqi patients. A total of 30 patients were studied, in addition to 20 age, gender and ethnicity matched controls. All subjects were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primers (PCR-SSP) method. For HLA-class I region (A and B loci), only HLA-A*19 allele showed a significant (P = 0.031) decreased frequency in VL patients as compared with controls (13.3 vs. 45.0%), and such deviation was associated with OR and PF values of 0.19 and 0.37, respectively. At HLA-class II region, HLA-DRB1*03 and HLA-DQB1*02 alleles were significantly (P = 0.020 and 0.013, respectively) increased in VL patients (56.6 vs. 20% and 46.6 vs. 10%, respectively) as compared with controls. The OR of such two positive associations was 5.23 and 7.88, respectively, and the EF value was 0.46 and 0.41, respectively. In contrast, HLA-DRB1*02 (13.3 vs. 45.0%) and HLA-DQB1*03 (33.3 vs. 70.0%)were significantly (P = 0.031 and 0.023, respectively) decreased in patients. However, none of these differences remained significant after correcting the P value for the number of alleles tested at each locus. these preliminary data suggest that HLA alleles may have some role in aetiopathogenesis of VL, and this role can be in favour of susceptibility and/or protection.