determination of hla-b27 subtypes in iranian patients with ankylosing spondylitis

the human leukocyte antigen-b27 is one of the class i molecules of the major histocompatibility complex which is strongly associated with ankylosing spondylitis (as) . the strength of the disease association with b27 varies markedly among racial and ethnic populations. it is an allele family, which constitutes about 31 subtypes, with a considerable geographic and ethnic difference in distribution. it is important to know whether certain subtypes show any preferential association with as. because there is no report regarding hla-b27 subtypes in iranian patients with as, the fact the main there are rarelystudies (if any); purpose of the present study was to assess the frequency of subtypes of human leukocyte antigen (hla)-b27 in patients with ankylosing spondylitis in iranian population one hundred and nineteen as patients (82 hla-b27 positive and 37 hla-b27 negative) were selected for this study. hla-b27 positive patients were selected screened for b*27 subtyping were performed by polymerase chain reaction amplification with sequence-specific primers (pcr-ssp) for b*27 subtyping. . the results of present study revealed that only that only two subtypes were detected in iranian patients , including : b*2705 (52 patients, 63.4%) and b*2702 (30 patients, 36.6%). our results showed a restricted number of hla-b27 subtypes associated with as in iran and an elevated frequency of the b*2705 allele in these patients similar to other euro-caucasoid (aryan) groups in the world .