investigation the role of gender on the hla-drb1and -dqb1 association with type 1 diabetes mellitus in iranian patients

objective: type 1 diabetes mellitus (t1d) is an autoimmune and multifactorial disorder. subsequent analysis on human leukocyte antigen ( hla) region shows that hla-drb1 and -dqb1 genes have the strongest association with t1d. in this study, for the first time, we investigated the influence of gender on the hla-drb1 and -dqb1 association with type 1 diabetes mellitus in iranian patients in order to determine gender dependent hla heterogeneity in iranian t1d patients. materials and methods: in this case control study, the hla-drb1 and -dqb1 typing were performed on 105 iranian t1d patients and 100 healthy controls. the data were evaluated by using fisher exact test. results: our results indicate that drb1*04:01, dqb1*03:02 alleles and drb1*04:01-dqb1*03:02 haplotype were significantly more frequent in male t1d patients than females. also, drb1*03:01, drb1*15:01, dqb1*06:01 alleles, dqb1*03:01/05:01 genotype, drb1*03:01-dqb1*02:01 and drb1*15:01-dqb1*06:01 haplotypes were significantly higher in female t1d group than males. furthermore, our results showed that drb1*04:01 and dqb1*03:02 alleles were significantly more frequent in male t1d patients 1-5 years old at onset than females with similar condition. the drb1*03:01 allele and drb1*03:01-dqb1*02:01 haplotype were significantly higher in female t1d patients 6-10 years old at onset than males with similar condition. the drb1*15:01 allele and drb1*15:01-dqb1*06:01 haplotype were significantly more frequent in female t1d patients 16-20 years old at onset than males with similar condition. conclusion: our findings suggest that gender has a significant influence on the distribution of hla-dr and -dq alleles, genotypes and haplotypes. also, distribution of the hla-drb1 and -dqb1 alleles, genotypes and haplotypes vary based on the gender of t1d patients in different age at onset.