Association between Hepatitis B Virus Infection Outcome and HLA-A and DRB1 Genotyping in North Part of Iran

Background and Objective: The outcome of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection may be influenced by host factors like Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA). We have investigated HLA-A and DRB1 alleles in patients with persistent hepatitis B infection compared to subjects who had spontaneously recovered from HBV infection. To complete the findings of this study we performed another survey in certain HLA alleles that were significantly related to the outcome of HBV infection. The current study aimed to determine association between HBV infection outcome and HLA-A and DRB1 genotyping in North part of Iran. Patients and Methods: Ninety-four HBV infected patients were enrolled in this cross sectional study. First HLA-A and DRB1 alleles were analyzed by using low resolution PCR sequence-specificprimer (PCR-SSP) and then we used high resolution PCR-SSP method for subtyping HLA-A*33 and DRB1*13 alleles which were significantly related to the outcome of HBV infection. Results: HLA-A*33 allele was significantly higher in persistent group than recovered group and sub typing showed HLA-A*3303 in 75% and HLA-A*3301 in 25% of cases. HLA-DRB1*13 allele was significantly lower in persistent group than in recovered group and its subtypes were DRB1*1301 in 66.7% and DRB1*1303 in 33.3% of subjects. Conclusion: Host HLA polymorphism is an important factor to determining the outcome of HBV infection. HLA-A*3303 and DRB1*1301 were the predominant subtypes of HLA-A*33 and DRB1*13 alleles in Iranian HBV infected patients.