Analysis of DQB1 allele frequencies in pulmonary tuberculosis: preliminary report.

BACKGROUND The human leucocyte antigen (HLA) system plays an important role in the modulation of the immune response. An association between HLA and pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) has been examined in several populations but the results have been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation of DQB1 alleles with TB patients and healthy controls in the same ethnic group in Poland. METHOD The DQB1 alleles of 38 patients with TB and 58 healthy university staff volunteers were determined by a PCR-SSP low resolution method. RESULTS The DQB1*05 allele occurred more frequently (p adjusted for multiple comparison=0.002, OR=2.84, 95% CI 1.57 to 5.15) and the DQB1*02 allele occurred less frequently (p=0.01, OR=0.39, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.71) in patients with TB than in controls. The occurrence of DQB1*03,*04,*06 alleles was similar in the two populations. CONCLUSIONS The occurrence of specific DQB1 alleles may be linked to susceptibility/resistance to tuberculosis.