ASSOCIATION OF DQB1-ASTERISK-0302 ALLOANTIGENS IN JAPANESE PEDIATRIC-PATIENTS WITH STEROID-SENSITIVE NEPHROTIC SYNDROME

We identified human leukocyte alloantigens (HLA) class II alleles in 2 4 Japanese children with steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome (SSNS) b y deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) typing. The DQA1 and DQB1 alleles were i dentified using sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes for DQA and D QB. The frequency of DQB10302 was significantly higher in the patient s than in the controls (54.0 vs. 16.0%, respectively; relative risk, R R = 6.2; p(c) < 0.00009. We also found that the frequency of DQA10103 in the patients was significantly lower than in the controls (RR = 0. 194, p(c) < 0.04). Several studies have identified an association betw een certain HLA by serotyping. In the present study, we investigated t he HLAs of Japanese patients with SSNS by DNA typing and observed a si gnificant increase in the frequency of DQB10302 in patients with the disease. HLA-DQ3, which was proven to be associated with SSNS, consist s of HLA DQ7, 8 and 9. DQB10302 is a component of HLA-DQ8. So we prop osed the increase of DQ3 was due to an increase in DQ8.