AIM: To explore whether predisposition to autoimmune gastritis (AIG) is found in human leukocyte antigen (HLA), cytokine or killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) gene variations. METHODS: Twelve Finnish patients with autoimmune-type severe atrophy of the gastric corpus were included. The patients' serum was analyzed for pepsinogen I and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) antibodies. DNA was separated and the patients were genotyped for HLA-A, B, Cw, DRB1 and DQB1 antigens, and studied for single nucleotide polymorphisms for the following cytokines: interleukin (IL)-1 gene cluster, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, interferon gamma, transforming growth factor beta, and tumor necrosis factor alpha. Variation in KIR genes was also explored. The results were compared with prevalence of the polymorphisms in Finnish or European populations. RESULTS: All patients had pepsinogen I levels below normal (mean: 11 microg/L, range: < 5 to 25 microg/L). Three patients had elevated H. pylori IgG antibodies, while H. pylori serology was negative in the rest of the patients. AIG patients carried significantly more often HLA-DRB1*04 (58%) and DQB1*03 (83%) than the general Finnish population did (28% and 51%, respectively; P = 0.045 and 0.034 by the Fisher's exact test). No patient was positive for HLA-B8-DRB1*03, a well-established autoimmune marker. Neither cytokine polymorphisms nor KIR gene variation showed association with AIG. CONCLUSION: As explored with modern DNA-based methods, HLA-DRB1*04 and DQB1*03 alleles, but not HLA-B8-DRB1*03, may predispose to AIG.
- MeSH
- autoimunitní nemoci etnologie genetika MeSH
- cytokiny genetika MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- draslíkové kanály dovnitř usměrňující genetika MeSH
- gastritida etnologie genetika MeSH
- genetická predispozice k nemoci genetika MeSH
- genotyp MeSH
- HLA-DQ antigeny genetika MeSH
- HLA-DQ beta řetězec MeSH
- HLA-DR antigeny genetika MeSH
- HLA-DRB1 řetězec MeSH
- jednonukleotidový polymorfismus genetika MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- membránové glykoproteiny genetika MeSH
- studie případů a kontrol MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- Geografické názvy
- Česká republika MeSH
- Finsko MeSH
- Itálie MeSH
