HLA-DRβ1*04 typing by simple in-house PCR-SSP technique for rheumatoid arthritis patients

A strong association between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) has been observed in many different populations and that accounts for approximately one-third of the genetic component of RA susceptibility. The greatest effect comes from DRβ1 gene where the strongest association has been found with DRβ1*04 (DR4) allele. As serology has some disadvantages over polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based techniques and commercially available PCR-based kits are expensive, this study was aimed to standardize simple in-house PCR-SSP technique. Accuracy of this test was further checked with standard PCR-SSOP (RLS) results. The frequency HLA-DRβ1*04 was significantly increased among RA patients when compared with normal controls. In this study, a very simple, convenient and more cost-effective in-house PCR-SSP technique was standardized for HLA-DRβ1*04 typing that is helpful to RA diagnosis in developing countries like India, which can be used as a good screening test.