PLoS ONE (Jan 2013)

HLA-DRB1 shared epitope-dependent DR-DQ haplotypes are associated with both anti-CCP-positive and -negative rheumatoid arthritis in Chinese Han.

  • Xu Liu,
  • Jianping Guo,
  • Yuan Jia,
  • Yi Zhao,
  • Xia Liu,
  • Feng Cheng,
  • Xiaoxia Li,
  • Yi Zheng,
  • Xuhua Shi,
  • Haiyun Li,
  • Cibo Huang,
  • Yongjing Cheng,
  • Bei Lai,
  • Yanhong Huang,
  • Tian Wang,
  • Bo Ding,
  • Zhangguo Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0071373
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 8
p. e71373

Abstract

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The association between Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) class II and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been extensively studied, but few reported DR-DQ haplotype. Here we investigated the association of HLA-DRB1, DQA1, DQB1, and DR-DQ haplotypes with RA susceptibility and with anti-CCP antibodies in 281 RA patients and 297 control in Han population. High-resolution genotyping were performed. The HLA-DRB1 shared epitope (SE)-encoding allele *0405 displayed the most significant RA association (P = 1.35×10(-6)). The grouped DRB1 SE alleles showed great association with RA (P = 3.88×10(-13)). The DRB1 DRRAA alleles displayed significant protective effects (P = 0.021). The SE-dependent DR-DQ haplotype SE-DQ3/4/5 remained strong association with both anti-CCP -positive (P = 3.71×10(-13)) and -negative RA (P = 3.89×10(-5)). Our study revealed that SE alleles and its haplotypes SE-DQ3/4/5 were highly associated with RA susceptibility in Han population. The SE-DQ3/4/5 haplotypes were associated with both anti-CCP positive RA and -negative RA.