MHC class II genes in Mexican patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes (HLA-DR and HLA-DQB) and the genetic susceptibility to idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC) in Mexican patients. The HLA-DR and DQB alleles were analyzed in 53 patients with IDC and 99 ethnically matched healthy controls using the polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific oligonucleotides (PCR-SSO) technique. IDC patients showed increased frequencies of HLA-DR4 (pC = 0.02, OR = 1.87), HLA-DQB1⁎0301 (pC = 0.02, OR = 1.92) and HLA-DQB1⁎0302 (pC = 0.02, OR = 1.87) when compared to healthy controls. On the other hand, IDC patients also showed decreased frequencies of HLA-DR11 allele (pC = 0.03, OR = 0.26) and HLA-DQB1⁎0201 (pC = 0.04, OR = 0.41). These data suggest that variation in class II HLA alleles could be a genetic factor involved in the susceptibility to IDC of the Mexican Mestizo population.