Association of susceptibility to Takayasu arteritis in Chinese Han patients with HLA-DPB1

Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a chronic large-vessel vasculitis of unknown etiology. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles play an important role in the development of TA. The association between HLA-DPB1 and TA in Chinese Han patients remains unclear. We examined the genotypes of 72 Chinese patients with TA and 180 healthy unrelated individuals who did not have any history of chronic disease. HLA-DPB1 genotypes were determined using polymerase chain reaction sequence-specific primer (PCR-SSP). The frequencies of DPB1*09 and DPB1*1701 among the TA patients were significant higher than among the controls. The mean age of the onset of TA in patients with DPB1*1701 alleles was significant earlier than the DPB1*1701 negative patients. Our results indicated that the HLA-DPB1*09 and DPB1*1701 alleles might increase the susceptibility to TA, and the individuals possessing DPB1*1701 had the earlier onset age of the disease. Further studies on the mechanism underlying are warranted.