RESUMO
Hydatidosis constitutes a major public health problem in kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The variability on susceptibility to hydatidosis has been related to the HLA system. So this study aimed to identifying the possible association between the class-II HLA-DRB1 alleles with the occurrence of hydatidosis and the clinical course in Saudi patients using Micro SSP HLA-DRB1 kits. Since HLA-disease associations might vary in relation to gender, so this study aims also to determining the HLA-DRB1 alleles- hydatidosis association in relation to gender. The results proved that HLA-DR16 and HLA-DR7 alleles were the suitable markers of susceptibility association while HLA-DR1 and HLA-DR10 alleles might confer protection against hydatidosis. All the previous susceptible and resistance associations were statistically significant. Also, the majority of the female patients (81.8%) had HLA-DR14 compared to 9.1% of female controls while 50% of the male patients had HLA-DR7 compared to 4.5% of male controls. These results were statistically associated and this is the first study that found an association between certain HLA-DRB 1 alleles and the occurrence of human hydatidosis in relation to gender. Also, significant relations were detected between HLA-DR16 and hepatic and single cyst, HLA-DR7 and lung cyst, HLA-DR14 and combined cysts. Also, no statistical significance was found between other cystic characteristics and any one of the susceptible HLA-DRBs. On conclusion beside the role HLA-DRB 1 on the susceptibility or the resistance to hydatidosis disease occurrence among Saudi population also it may have an important role in the prevalence of the disease in relation to gender.
