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HLA class II antigens and DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism in myasthenia gravis in japan
Author(s) -
Morita Kazuyuki,
Moriuchi Junko,
Inoko Hidetoshi,
Tsuji Kimiyoshi,
Arimori Shigeru
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
annals of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.764
H-Index - 296
eISSN - 1531-8249
pISSN - 0364-5134
DOI - 10.1002/ana.410290209
Subject(s) - myasthenia gravis , human leukocyte antigen , restriction fragment length polymorphism , immunology , polymorphism (computer science) , gene , genomic dna , phenotype , dna , biology , hla dq , genetics , antigen , genotype , haplotype
Human leukocyte phenotypes and genes in the HLA class II regions were studied in 46 Japanese patients with myasthenia gravis. When the HLA phenotypes of the patients with myasthenia gravis were compared with the controls, an increased frequency of HLA‐DRw53 was observed in females less than 30 years of age. The genomic DNAs of the HLA‐DRw53‐positive patients and DRw53‐positive controls were analyzed by using four complementary DNA probes for HLA class II genes. With DQB complementary DNA as the probe, a higher incidence of the 6.5‐kb or 8.2‐kb Bam HI fragment was observed in the patients (76.0%) compared with the controls (19.0%). In contrast, no significant difference was observed between patients and controls when complementary DNAs for DRB, DQA, and DPB were used as probes. These results indicate that the genetic background of Japanese females with early‐onset myasthenia gravis is different from other patients with myasthenia gravis, and that DQB genes can greatly influence the onset of myasthenia gravis.