HLA-DQ AND TAP2 GENES IN PATIENTS WITH INSULIN-DEPENDENT DIABETES-MELLITUS

We examined the prevalence of HLA-DRB1, DQB1, DQA1 and TAP2 genes in c hildren with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (type 1 diabetes). Th ese HLA and TAP2 alleles were identified by dot-blot analysis of polym erase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified genomic DNA with sequence-specifi c oligonucleotide probes. The results show that those DQB1 alleles, wh ich carry non-aspartic acid at position 57, in conjunction with DQA1 a lleles carrying arginine at position 52, are strongly associated with susceptibility to type 1 diabetes. The prevalence of the TAP20201 all ele in diabetic patients was significantly lower than that in normal c ontrols. Analysis of the data suggests that DQ alleles have the primar y association with type 1 diabetes and that the association of TAP2 al leles with the disease is secondary.