Association between HLA-DQ gene polymorphisms and different outcomes of hepatitis B virus infection

Abstract

To understand the association between two single-nucleotide polymorphism (HLA-DQ rs28567185 and rs9275572) and different outcomes of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. A total of 825 HBV infection related cases were enrolled, and peripheral blood samples were collected from them for DNA extraction. The single-nucleotide polymorphism in HLA-DQ region were genotyped by using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the association between HLA-DQ gene polymorphism and different outcomes of hepatitis B virus infection. Our study indicated that cases with HLA-DQ rs2856718G (524 cases) and rs9275572A (369 cases) had reduced susceptibility to HBV infection (OR=0.702, 95%CI: 0.558-0.856, P=0.001; OR=0.548, 95%CI:0.365-0.847, P=0.005) and higher HBV natural clearance (OR=0.589, 95%CI: 0.478-0.892, P=8.81 × 10(-3); OR=0.673, 95%CI: 0.457-0.860, P=0.014). Moreover, rs9275572A was also associated with the lower risk of the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (OR=0.759, 95%CI: 0.538-0.914, P=0.041). Our study suggested that HLA-DQ loci might be associated with the different outcomes of HBV infection in Chinese in Han ethnic group in northern China, rs2856718G and rs9275572A might be protective factors for HBV infection, HBV natural clearance and HBV-related disease progress.