@article{271,
  keywords = {Age of Onset, Aged, Alleles, Case-Control Studies, China, Ethnic Groups, Female, Gene Frequency, Genetic Association Studies, HLA-DR Antigens, HLA-DRB1 Chains, Humans, leprosy, Leprosy, Multibacillary, Leprosy, Paucibacillary, Male, Young Adult},
  author = {Zhang F and Liu H and Chen S and Wang C and Zhu C and Zhang L and Chu T and Liu D and Yan X and Liu J},
  title = {Evidence for an association of HLA-DRB1*15 and DRB1*09 with leprosy and the impact of DRB1*09 on disease onset in a Chinese Han population.},
  abstract = {<p><b>BACKGROUND: </b>Human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) have been proposed to modulate the immune response to Mycobacterium leprae. The association of HLA-DRB1 with leprosy has been reported in several populations, but not in a Chinese population.</p><p><b>METHODS: </b>The polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific oligonucleotide probe with Luminex100 (PCR-SSOP-Luminex) method was used to genotype HLA-DRB1 alleles in 305 leprosy patients and 527 healthy control individuals.</p><p><b>RESULTS: </b>The HLA-DRB1*15 allele was significantly more prevalent among leprosy patients than healthy controls, whereas the frequency of the HLA-DRB1*09 allele was lower among leprosy patients, especially those with early-onset disease.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION: </b>HLA-DRB1 alleles are associated with leprosy susceptibility in a Chinese population. The HLA-DRB1*09 allele was found to be protective exclusively in a subset of early-onset leprosy patients.</p>},
  year = {2009},
  journal = {BMC medical genetics},
  volume = {10},
  pages = {133},
  month = {2009 Dec 11},
  issn = {1471-2350},
  doi = {10.1186/1471-2350-10-133},
  language = {eng},
}