Novel HLA Class I Alleles Associated with Indian Leprosy Patients

Convincing results on HLA Class II associations have been reported, however data on HLA class I association are limited and inconsistent from studies in Leprosy. We present here the HLA A, B, and C allele distribution by molecular high resolution PCR-SSOP technique in 32 leprosy patients compared with the 67 controls, from the same ethnic background. The significant results from the present study were a significant increase in frequency of HLA A*0206, A*1102, B*4016, B*5110, Cw*0407, and Cw*0703 was observed when compared to controls. A striking decrease in the frequency of HLA A*0101, Cw*04011, and Cw*0602 leprosy patients was observed when compared to the controls. Further haplotype A*1102-B*4006-Cw*1502 was significantly increased among the lepromatous leprosy patients when compared to the controls. It seems that HLA class I alleles play vital roles in disease association/pathogenesis with leprosy among Indians.