HLA class II allele associations in Korean patients with pemphigus

Background: Studies at the population level have demonstrated associations between pemphigus (pemphigus vulgaris, PV, and pemphigus foliaceus, PF) and particular HLA haplotypes, which suggests that there may be a genetic predisposition for the disease. Objective/Methods: The aim of the present study was to examine the distribution/frequency pattern of HLA class II alleles (DRB1, DQA1 and DQB1) from a group of 30 Korean patients with pemphigus (15 PV and 15 PF) by PCR amplification with sequence-specific primers. Results: In PV, the frequency of DRB1*01 allele was found to be significantly high (p(c) = 0.0014); in PF, DRB1*01, DQA1*0302 and DQB1*0603 alleles showed positive associations with statistical significances (p(c) = 0.0002, 0.0007 and 0.0067, respectively), when compared with those found in Korean controls. Conclusions: In this small-sample study, findings of allelic frequencies among Korean patients with pemphigus are somewhat different from those found in other populations.