The meta-analysis showed that HLA DQB1*05, DRB1*14 and DRB1*16 were strongly associated with an increased risk of MuSK-MG (P < .0001), whereas HLA DQB*03 was less frequent in MuSK patients compared with healthy controls (P < .05).
A significant positive association was observed between MuSK+MG with the DRB1*14 [57.1%, MuSK+MG vs. 18.0%, healthy controls (HC); odds ratio (OR): 6.1] and DQB1*05 [78.6%, MuSK+MG vs. 30.0%, HC; odds ratio (OR): 8.5].
Among other MG subgroups and with less significance, DRB1*0101 DQA1*0101 DQB1*05 haplotype (P=0.016, OR=3.68) had positive association with pure ocular MG, and DRB1*03 DQA1*0501 DQB1*0201 haplotype (P=0.024) had negative association with thymomatous MG.
Within the MG patients, there was a strong positive association between HLA-B*4601-DRB1*0901 and juvenile ocular MG patients, and the value of odds ratios (OR) decreased as the disease became more severe and the age of onset increased.
These results indicate that HLA-DRB1(*)09 might be positively associated and DRB1(*)08 negatively associated with MG in the northern Han Chinese population.
These date suggest that LG type of MG may present a particular subset of childhood-onset MG, which is associated with the specific HLA subtypes DRB1*1302/DQA1*0102/DQB1*0604 and DRB1*0901/DQA1*0301/DQB1*0303.
Tests to identify alleles with the strongest association to MG in our patients detected DRB1*13 and B*38 as possible predisposing secondarily associated alleles in patients with hyperplasia.
Analysis of the TNF-B*1, C4A*Q0, C4B*1, DRB1*03 supratype and its recombinants showed that the MHC region between C4 and TNF might contain genes that influence susceptibility to MG in females.
No statistically significant difference was observed in the overall prevalences of DRB1 and DQB1 alleles between MG patients and healthy controls, even when the patients and controls were stratified on the basis of their gender.
HLA class II alleles in the DQA1, DQB1, DRB1, and DPB1 genes were investigated in Japanese patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) by digestion of polymerase chain reaction amplified DNAs with allele specific restriction endonucleases (PCR-RFLP).