Jd. Reveille et al., MAJOR HISTOCOMPATIBILITY COMPLEX CLASS-II AND C4 ALLELES IN MEXICAN-AMERICANS WITH SYSTEMIC LUPUS-ERYTHEMATOSUS, Tissue antigens, 45(2), 1995, pp. 91-97
Few data exist on associations of class II and class III alleles of th
e major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and susceptibility to systemi
c lupus erythematosus (SLE) in Mexican Americans, a group of predomina
ntly mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry. Therefore, MHC class
II alleles (HLA-DRB1, DQA1, DQB1, DPA1 and DPB1 alleles) and C4 alloty
pes were determined in 52 Mexican American SLE patients and 105 ethnic
-matched controls. HLA-DRB10301 and C4A* Q0 were each increased in th
e SLE patients, especially HLA-DRB10301 in those with anti-Ro/SSA aut
oantibodies. C4AQ0 was associated with HLA-DRB1*0301 only in a minori
ty of patients and controls. Anti-U1-RNP antibodies were significantly
associated with the presence of HLA-DQB10302, and the risk for the p
roduction of anti-Re antibodies was heightened by the presence of at l
east three (out of four possible) DQA1 chains possessing a glutamine a
t position 34 and/or DQB1 chains a leucine at position 26 of their out
ermost domains. Thus the HLA class II and C4 null allele associations
that have been noted in other ethnic groups are also found in Mexican
Americans, suggesting shared susceptibility factors across ethnic line
s in predisposition to SLE.