OBJECTIVETo investigate the frequencies of human leuckocyte antigens (HLA) -A, B and DRB1 alleles in Chinese patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) using polymerase chain reaction-based techniques, and to assess the correlation of HLA molecules with other clinical and laboratory profiles.

METHODSGenotyping of HLA-A, B, and DRB1 were performed in 65 well-characterized patients with primary biliary cirrhosis and 431 healthy controls with PCR amplification with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP).

RESULTSThe frequency of DRB1*0701 was increased to 29.2% compared with 13.9% in the controls (PC < 0.05, OR = 2.55, 95% CI: 1.4 approximately 4.6). No association was found with HLA-DRB1*08 which had been constantly reported. The A*2 allele (53.8%) was more frequent in the PBC patient group but without a significant statistical difference. The frequencies for the other A, B and DRB1 alleles were similar between patients and healthy controls. There was no difference between patients with or without DRB1*0701 in some clinical and laboratory profiles.

CONCLUSIONSusceptibility to primary biliary cirrhosis in Chinese is associated with DRB1*0701 allele and differs from people in North America, South America, North Europe and even in Japan, but the association is not restricted to any particular subgroup of patients. Valine at position 78 of HLA DRbeta1 may play an important role in the pathogenesis of primary biliary cirrhosis.