Assessment of association between HLA alleles and acquired aplastic anemia in Iranian population

Abstract

Aplastic anemia is regarded as an immune-related disorder in which T lymphocytes have a prominent role in destroying bone marrow cells. Previous studies have assessed the role of HLA alleles in development of this disorder. In the current investigation, we genotyped HLA-A/-B/DRB1 alleles in 22 Iranian patients with acquired aplastic anemia and the same number of matched healthy subjects. Frequencies of HLA genotypes were in agreement with the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium assumption in aplastic anemia patients and healthy controls. Although some HLA alleles and genotypes were represented with different frequencies between patients and controls, the differences did not reach the level of significance. Thus, we suggest conduction of further studies in larger samples sizes to find whether the observed associations in other populations can be found in Iranian patients as well.