GLYCINE-VALINE DIMORPHISM AT THE 86TH AMINO-ACID OF HLA-DRB1 INFLUENCED THE PROGNOSIS OF POSTSCHISTOSOMAL HEPATIC-FIBROSIS

Chinese patients (n = 113) with schistosomal hepatic fibrosis diagnose d by ultrasonography (grade I, II, or III) and 184 age- and sex-matche d persons with no clinical information of schistosomal infection were typed for their HLA-DRB1 alleles by DNA typing. There was no single al lele that conferred susceptibility or resistance to fibrosis, However, there were three groups of alleles that showed decreased (resistant), increased (susceptible), or neutral frequency in the patients with fi brosis. The susceptible alleles, DRB11202, DRB1*1404, and DRB1*1405, shared a valine at amino acid residue 86, whereas the resistant allele s, DRB11101, DRB1*0409, and DRB1*0701, all had glycine at position 86 . Therefore, this study focused on the glycine-valine dimorphism at aa 86, which influences the depth of the P1 pocket in the antigen bindin g groove, and found that the 86th valine allele was significantly incr eased in the patients with fibrosis (odds ratio = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.34-3 .61, corrected P < .05).