ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between HLA class II alleles and autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) type I in Thai patients. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The clinical data of 50 autoimmune hepatitis patients type I (AIH) at Siriraj hepatitis clinic were analysed, 37 of whom were tested for HLA class II genotyping using polymerase chain reaction and sequence-specific oligonucleotide technique (PCR-SSO). RESULTS: AIH is an uncommon chronic hepatitis in Thailand with females predominant. The HLA DRB1*0301, and DQA1*0101 were significantly associated with AIH patients when compared to controls; (OR = 3.92 [1.18-13.30], p 0.021, OR = 2.31 [1.13-4.73], p 0.019, respectively). When 18 patients with "definite" AIH were analysed, only HLA DRB1*0301 was still significantly associated with AIH (OR = 5.22, 95%CI = 1.28-20.92, p 0.015). CONCLUSION: HLA genotyping has shown that HLA DRB1*0301 and HLA DQA1*0101 were significantly associated with AIH.