Association between Human Leukocyte Antigen class-I and hepatitis C: the first report in Azeri patients

It has been suggested that host genetic diversity may be associated with Hepatitis C (HC). However, available data are tremendously heterogeneous due to the influence of ethnic and geographical differences. This study aimed to investigate possible association between certain Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) class-I alleles with HC in a group of Azeri patients for the first time in the literature. In a case-control study, 50 patients with confirmed HC (cases) and 50 healthy age- and sex-matched counterparts (controls) were evaluated in Tabriz Sina and Imam Reza Hospitals in a 2-year period of time (2011-2013). The investigated HLA alleles in the present study were: A2, A3, B35, B38, BW4, CW4 and CW7. The A2-positive cases were significantly more frequent in the case than in the control group (58 vs. 32%, p = 0.01, Odds Ratio (OR) = 2.9). Similar trend was documented for A3 (62 vs. 26%, p < 0.001, OR = 4.6), B35 (24 vs. 2%, p = 0.001, OR = 15.5) and BW4 (78 vs. 46%, p = 0.001, OR = 4.2). In contrast, the rate of B38-positive (34 vs. 8%, p = 0.001, OR = 0.2) and CW7-positive (38 vs. 14%, p = 0.01, OR = 0.3) cases was significantly higher in the hepatitis-C-negative subjects. There was no significant difference in terms of the rate of CW4-positivity between the two groups (20% in the cases vs. 34% in the controls, p = 0.12, OR = 0.5). This study showed that there are significant associations between certain HLA-I alleles with hepatitis C in Azeri patients. While some alleles make the host prone to the disease, others may have a protective role in this regard.