Strong association of HLA-DR3/DRw9 heterozygosity with early-onset insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in Chinese
Strong association of HLA-DR3/DRw9 heterozygosity with early-onset insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in Chinese. B R Hawkins , K S Lam , J T Ma , L C Low , P T Cheung , S W Serjeantson and R T Yeung Department of Pathology, University of Hong Kong. Abstract Studies of Caucasian and Japanese patien...
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Published in | Diabetes (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 36; no. 11; pp. 1297 - 1300 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
American Diabetes Association
01.11.1987
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Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Strong association of HLA-DR3/DRw9 heterozygosity with early-onset insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in Chinese.
B R Hawkins ,
K S Lam ,
J T Ma ,
L C Low ,
P T Cheung ,
S W Serjeantson and
R T Yeung
Department of Pathology, University of Hong Kong.
Abstract
Studies of Caucasian and Japanese patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) have shown that heterozygosity
for certain HLA-DR antigens confers a high risk of developing the disease. The HLA antigens of 75 Chinese patients and 100
Chinese controls in Hong Kong were studied to investigate the role of HLA-DR heterozygosity in Chinese individuals. Some of
the patients and controls were also tested for allotypic variation in the complement components C2, C4, and BF. Three alleles,
Aw33, B17, and DR3, had increased frequencies in patients compared with controls and frequently occurred together in the same
phenotype, which suggested their existence as a haplotype. There were no statistically significant differences in complement
allotype frequencies between patients and controls, although the C4B null allele seemed to be associated with Aw33, B17, and
DR3. No other HLA-DR antigen appeared to be associated with IDDM. However, when the patients were separated on the basis of
age at onset, the frequency of DR3/DRw9 heterozygosity was markedly increased in patients presenting in the first decade of
life, but there was no increase in patients presenting at greater than 20 yr of age. DRw9 is strongly associated with autoimmune
disease in Chinese, whereas DR3 is not. We suggest that the major IDDM susceptibility locus in Chinese is associated with
HLA-DR3 and that patients with HLA-DR3 and HLA-DRw9 have an added predisposition to autoimmune disease and therefore develop
IDDM earlier than patients without DRw9. |
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ISSN: | 0012-1797 1939-327X 0012-1797 |
DOI: | 10.2337/diabetes.36.11.1297 |