:Association of HLA-DQA1*0101/2 and DQB1*0502 with Myasthenia Gravis in Southern Iranian Patient

Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disorder of neuromuscular junctioncharacterized by skeletal muscle weakness and fatigability. Different genes may controlthe induction and clinical presentation of this disease. Various HLA alleles are reportedas predisposing or protective genetic elements in myasthenia gravis. Theaim of this study was to investigate the probable association between HLA-DQ allelesand myasthenia gravis in southern Iranian patients. HLA-DQA1 and DQB1alleles were determined in 104 sporadic patients with myasthenia gravis using polymerasechain reaction - restriction fragment length polymorphism method and the resultswere compared to 816 healthy controls. HLA-DQA1*0101/2 (39.4%) andDQB1*0502 (21.6%) were the most frequent alleles in southern Iranian patients withmyasthenia gravis. These alleles revealed positive associations with the disease withrelative risks of 1.69 and 2.41, respectively. The most common haplotype wasDQA1*0101/2-DQB1*0502 in these patients. According to the results ofthis study, DQA1*0101/2 and DQB1*0502 alleles might be considered as predisposinggenetic factors to myasthenia gravis while DQA1*0501, DQB1*0301 and *0602/3show protective roles against this disease.