HLA DRB1 alleles and hepatitis C virus infection in chronic kidney disease patients

T cell responses against HCV are regulated by the host's human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles, which thus are ideal candidate genes to investigate for associations with HCV susceptibility. We aimed to identify associations of HLA DRB1* alleles with HCV infection in a high risk of exposure population, chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients on dialysis, and to study any possible relationships with allele zygosity. The study population comprised 110 HCV infected and 143 HCV uninfected CKD patients undergoing regular hemodialysis. HLA DRB1* alleles were determined using polymerase chain reaction followed by hybridization with sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes. We found a significant negative association between HLA DRB1*03 and HCV infection, but the association did not retain significance after adjustment for multiple comparisons. HLA DRB1*03 was found at reduced frequency in HCV antibody positive compared to HCV antibody negative CKD patients on regular dialysis (corrected p was not significant). No significant association between HCV infection and HLA DRB1* zygosity was observed. Our results suggest that there is minimal evidence for a significant role of a particular HLA DRB1* allele or allele zygosity in the susceptibility or protection to HCV in high-risk hemodialysis patients with similar exposure to infection.