Increased frequency of hla-drb1*12 in asthma patients visiting a teaching hospital lahore, Pakistan

Background: Throughout the world, there are more than 300 million people of asthma and its prevalence in Pakistan is 3.7%. In Pakistan, there are studies on association of HLA with different diseases but data about HLA association with bronchial asthma is limited. An Iranian study described increased frequency of DRB1*12 allele in asthmatic patients. Therefore, present study was designed to determine frequency of HLA-DRB1*12 allele in patients of bronchial asthma. Material and Method: Fifty clinically-diagnosed bronchial asthma patients between 18-40 years with the history of allergy and 30 healthy subjects were selected. HLA-DRB1*12 allele and total serum IgE level was determined by PCR and ELISA technique respectively. Student-t test was applied to observe group mean difference. A p-value of ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Frequency of HLA-DRB1*12 allele in asthma patients was high (42%) compared to controls (20%) and on comparison there was statistically significant difference (p=0.04). Mean ± SD of total serum IgE level of bronchial asthma patients was high (861.6 ± 559.2 IU/ml) compared to controls (204.7 ± 237 IU/ml) and on comparison there was statistically significant difference (p = <0.001). Mean ±SD of total IgE level in HLA-DR B1*12 positive asthma patients was high (607.9 IU/ml) compared to HLA-DR B1*12 negative asthma patients (518.4 IU.ml) and on comparison there was no significant difference. Conclusion: Frequency of HLA-DRB1*12 was increased in bronchial asthma patients but this allele did not confer susceptibility to the raised total serum IgE levels.