HLA class II gene associations in African American type 1 diabetes reveal a protective HLA-DRB1*03 haplotype.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

Owing to strong linkage disequilibrium between markers, pinpointing disease associations within genetic regions is difficult in European ancestral populations, most notably the very strong association of the HLA-DRB1*03-DQA1*05:01-DQB1*02:01 haplotype with Type 1 diabetes risk, which is assumed to be because of a combination of HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1. In contrast, populations of African ancestry have greater haplotype diversity, offering the possibility of narrowing down regions and strengthening support for a particular gene in a region being causal. We aimed to study the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region in African American Type 1 diabetes.

Methods

Two hundred and twenty-seven African American patients with Type 1 diabetes and 471 African American control subjects w

SUBMITTER: Howson JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3709123 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature