Background: Asthma is a disease characterized by a chronic inflammation of the airways caused by the interaction of genetic susceptibility with environmental factors. Inflammation and remodeling are critical components of asthma. It is shown that many genes are involved in the pathogenesis of asthma.
Aim of study: To identify/compare the association between HLA-DRB1 alleles and development of asthma in a sample of Iraqi Arab Muslims.
Patients and methods: A case-control study (forty patients and forty healthy control) was carried out in Medical city Teaching Hospital, Baghdad-Iraq. The study participants were patients with asthma consulted the hospital from September - 2013 to January - 2015. HLA -DRB1genotyping was done using a panel of sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes (SSOP) using HLA-DRB1amplification and hybridization kits (SSO HLA type DRB1 plus and Mastermix for HLA type DRB1 Amp plus kits -Innogenetics-Belgium) using automated method by AutoLipa - 48Innogenetics-Belgum.
Results: There was an increased frequency of HLADRB1*03:01:01 in control group compared with patients group (P = 0.009, Odds ratio = 0.1228, 95% CI: 0.0254-0.5930). Other allele like HLA-DRB1* 070101was significantly increased in asthmatic patients in compares with control group (P = 0.005, Odds ratio = 6.641, 95% CI: 1.7319-25.4657).
Conclusions: HLA alleles have an effect on development asthma in patients with HLA-DRB1*070101 while HLADRB1* 030101 may have a protective effect in Iraqi Arab Muslims individuals against development of asthma.
Keywords: Asthma; Genetic; HLA.