Familial multiple sclerosis in a Brazilian sample: Is HLA-DR15 involved in susceptibility to the disease?

Background: The HLA-DR15 extended haplotype HLA-DRB1*15:01-DQA1*01:02-DQB1*06:02 comprises the strongest genetic risk factor for multiple sclerosis (MS). The aim of this work was to investigate whether HLA-DR15 alleles were significantly associated with the susceptibility to MS familial forms (MSf) in an admixed Brazilian population.

Methods: Association analyses between DR15 and the clinical and demographic variables were made.