EVIDENCE THAT THE HLA DQA1-ASTERISK-03 ALLELE CONFERS PROTECTION FROMCHRONIC HCV - INFECTION IN NORTHERN EUROPEAN CAUCASOIDS

In the search for factors which may influence susceptibility to and ou tcome from chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, few studies have considered the influence of host genes. In the present investigation we have performed HLA DRB1, DQA1, DQB1, and DPB1 genotyping on 104 nor thern European patients with chronic HCV infection and 177 racially an d geographically matched controls. Three HLA class II alleles, DRB104 03, DQA103, and DQB1*0302 were present at a significantly lower frequ ency in patients compared with controls (4.9% vs. 13%, 20.7% vs. 41.2% , and 11.4% vs. 30.5%, respectively) though only two DQB10302 and DQA 103 were significant after correction for multiple testing (pc = 0.03 8, and pc = 0.046, respectively). No further HLA associations with chr onic HCV infection were observed and there was no correlation between stage of disease and HLA genotype. These data provide the first sugges tion that susceptibility to chronic HCV infection may be influenced by the hosts' HLA DQ alleles.