HLA CLASS-I and CLASS-II In Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

¹Farha A. El-Chennawy ²Samia E. Abd El-Naby, ¹Fatma A. Auf, ¹Shirin S. Metwally and ¹Elham R.Abd EL -Sameea

¹Immunology Unit, Clinical Pathology Department, ²Dermatology and Venereology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.

To determine the association of HLA molecules with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and the clinical findings of the disease, HLA antigens were tested in 21 Egyptian patients with SLE who fulfilled the American Rheumatism Associations (ARA) diagnostic criteria. HLA class I was typed serologically using lymphocyte microcytotoxicity test, and HLA class II DRB1 and DQB1 alleles were defined by using the PCR/SSOP method. Anti-double stranded DNA (ds-DNA) antibodies were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Among the Egyptian patients, the typing results show increased frequency of HLA class I A3, A25, B13, B35 antigens and HLA class II DRB1 *0301 allele in patients with SLE compared to normal controls. There are some positive associations between HLA antigens and clinical findings in SLE such as malar rash with A1, B13 antigens and DQB1 *0401 allele, alopecia with B5, DRB1 *1501, DQB1 *0401, photosensitivity with A2, B5, B35, DRB1 *0602 and arthritis with A3, B35, DRB1 *0301, and DQB1 *0602. We conclude that there are some associations of HLA markers with SLE and its clinical manifestations.