Objective: To investigate the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the HLA-DP and DQ genes with the outcome of chronic hepatitis B virus infection.
Methods: Two hundred and four healthy subjects, 255 clearance subjects, 204 asymptomatic HBV carriers (AsC), 136 chronic hepatitis B (CHB), 68 liver cirrhosis (LC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were enrolled. Genotypes of rs3077, rs9277535 and rs2647050 were determined by sequence specific primers-PCR (PCR-SSP).
Results: By using healthy subjects and clearance subjects as the control groups, rs3077 and rs9277535 were significantly associated with chronic HBV infection under additive and dominant models (P< 0.05). Meanwhile, haplotypes GGA, AGA, AAA appeared to be protective factors against chronic HBV infection (P < 0.05). By using AsC as the control group, comparison with the CHB, LC and HCC groups showed no association of the 3 SNPs or haplotypes with the clinical outcome (P > 0.05).
Conclusion: HLA-DP gene polymorphisms are strongly associated with chronic HBV infection. The presence of A allele at rs3077 and rs9277535 of the HLA-DP gene may decreased the risk for chronic HBV infection.