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HLA-DPB1 allele associates with early-onset myasthenia gravis in Japan

Departments of Internal Medicine IV, Neurology, and Transplantation II, School of Medicine, Tokai University, Isehara, Kanagawa, Japan.

We investigated the HLA-DPB1 allele in 43 unrelated Japanese patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) using digestion of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified DNA with allele-specific restriction endonucleases (PCR-RFLP method). We found a higher frequency of the DPB1^*0201 allele in female patients whose ages at onset were less than 30 years (83.3%) than in controls (35.6%). The study also included serologic typing of HLA-A, -B, -C, and -DR antigens in 72 patients with MG, and confirmed previous results demonstrating a strong association of HLA-DR53 with early onset of MG in females. These results indicate that both the DPB1^*0201 allele and DR53 play key roles in the disease process of MG in early-onset females, and that the genetic background of Japanese females with early-onset MG is different from that of other patients with MG.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Terumi Horiki, Department of Internal Medicine IV, School of Medicine, Tokai University, Isehara, Kanagawa 259-11, Japan.

Supported in part by a grant from the Neuroimmunological Research Committee, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Japan.

Received July 13, 1992. Accepted for publication in final form August 27, 1992.

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