Genotypic Analysis Revealed Association of HLA Alleles with Clinical Parameters in Bangladeshi Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

This study investigated distribution of HLA alleles (HLADRB1*01, *03, *04, *07, HLA-DQB1*0201, *0301/4) in 34 healthy controls and 57 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in a Bangladeshi population and correlated the genotypic frequencies with clinical parameters. Frequency distribution of HLA-DRB1*04 (34%) and HLA-DRB1*01 (32%) were the highest followed by HLA-DQB1*0301/4 (29%) and HLA-DQB1*0201 (26%) in RA patients while HLA-DRB1*03 (12%) had lowest frequency. Plasma level of anti-CCP and rheumatoid factor antibodies confirmed diagnosis of RA patients that varied significantly between patients and healthy controls. Likewise, plasma levels of C-reactive protein, triglycerides, cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and activities of AST and ALT exhibited significant variation between the two groups. In contrast, the levels of glucose, total protein, uric acid, LDL-cholesterol and plasma activity of ALP in RA patients had no significant deviations from healthy controls. Relationship between HLA genotype frequency and clinical parameters revealed that the mean levels of anti-CCP and rheumatoid factor antibodies were highest in the patients harboring HLA-DRB1*04 allele. These findings underpin the correlation between HLA genotype with clinical markers of RA which are indicative of disease severity. The positive correlation of these markers with certain HLA genes may be used to identify susceptible individuals who are likely to have RA in Bangladeshi population.