HLA-C, DRB1 and DQB1 alleles involved in genetic predisposition to psoriasis vulgaris in the Slovak population

Abstract

# The Author(s) This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com 2012 Abstract Psoriasis vulgaris is a complex chronic skin dis-ease with immunological and genetic background. The most important predisposing genetic factors in psoriasis are genes of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region. Accumula-tive evidence has shown that several HLA alleles are closely associated with psoriasis; however, they tend to vary in different racial and ethnic backgrounds. One hundred forty-seven unrelated Slovak patients with psoriasis vulgaris (average age at onset 28±14 years) were genotyped for the HLA-C, DQB1 and DRB1 alleles by the polymerase chain reaction using sequence-specific primers. Allele frequencies observed in the group of psoriatic patients were compared to those obtained in the ethnically matched control group com-prising 194 subjects with no history of psoriasis. Suscepti-bility to psoriasis vulgaris in our study group is significantly associated with HLA-C*06 (odds ratio (OR)03.85), DRB1*07 (OR02.56) and DQB1*02 (OR01.09), respec-tively, whereas DRB*01 (OR00.05) is associated negative-ly. Hereby, we provide the first report on the association of HLA-C, DRB1 and DQB1 alleles with psoriasis in the Slovak population. Our findings confirm HLA-C*06 and DRB1*07 as the most important genetic risk factors for psoriasis. However, the role of HLA genes as causative in the pathogenesis of the disease remains unclear. Identifica-tion of genetic factors that increase the risk of psoriasis is a precondition that helps to elucidate the pathogenesis of this troubling disease and identify targets for a more specific and effective therapy