Association of polymorphisms of HLA-DRB1 gene with unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion in ethnic Hans from Henan / 中华医学遗传学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To assess the association of polymorphisms of human leukocyte antigen DRB1 gene (HLA-DRB1) with susceptibility to unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (URSA).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The HLA-DRB1 gene was typed with polymerase chain reaction-specific sequence primers (PCR-SSP) method in 200 couples with URSA and 200 couples with a normal pregnancy history.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The frequencies of DRB1*09 and DRB1*13 alleles were significantly greater in the URSA group compared with the control group (14.50% vs. 9.50%, and 7.00% vs. 4.38%, both P<0.05), whilst the frequencies of DRB1*04 and DRB1*12 alleles were significantly lower (7.13% vs. 10.75%, and 8.63% vs. 14.38%, both P<0.05). For females from the URSA group, the frequency of DRB1*09 allele (14.00%) was significantly higher compared with the controls (9.25%) (P=0.036), whilst the frequency of DRB1*12(8.50%) allele was significantly lower (14.00%) (P=0.014). For males in the URSA group, the frequencies of DRB1*09 and DRB1*13 alleles were significantly higher than those of the controls (15.00% vs. 9.75%, and 9.25% vs. 4.00%, both P<0.05), whilst the frequencies of DRB1*04 and DRB1*12 alleles were significantly lower (5.75% vs. 12.25%, and 8.75% vs. 14.75%, P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The DRB1*09 and DRB1*13 alleles may contribute to the susceptibility of URSA, while DRB1*04 and DRB1*12 alleles may confer a protective effect factors. For females, however, no significant association of DRB1*13 and DRB1*04 alleles with URSA was found.</p>