HLA class I & II alleles in multiple sclerosis patients from Puerto Rico

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a complex disease where genetic and environmental factors have been implicated. The onset of symptoms occurs in individuals from twenty to fifty years of age, producing a progressive impairment of motor, sensory and cognitive functions. MS is more frequent in females than in males with a ratio of 4:1. The prevalence of the MS varies among ethnics groups such as Europeans, Africans and Caucasians. The estimated prevalence of MS in Puerto Rico is 42 for each 100,000 habitants, which is more than the prevalence reported for Central America and the Caribbean. In spite of this prevalence, the genetic component of MS has not been explored in order to know the alleles' expression of Puerto Rican MS patients and compare it with the allele expression in other ethnic groups. Thirty-five patients and 31 control subjects were genotyped. The allele frequencies expressed in this sample were similar to those expressed for Puerto Ricans in the National Marrow Donor Program Registry (n = 3,149). The most prevalent alleles for MS patients were HLA-DRB1*01 and *03. HLA-DQB1*04 was the most frequent in the control group and HLA-A*30, in MS patients. These findings are in agreement with published data. HLA-DQB1*04 was a marginal protector in this sample and this role has not been described before. The accuracy of the results is limited due to the sample size. After performing a statistical power analysis it showed that by increasing the sample the values would be significant.