TagSNP approach for HLA risk allele genotyping of Saudi celiac disease patients: effectiveness and pitfalls.

Background: Celiac disease (CD) is a genetically complex autoimmune disease which is triggered by dietary gluten. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II genes are known to act as high-risk markers for CD, where >95% of CD patients carry (HLA), DQ2 and/or DQ8 alleles. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the distribution of HLA haplotypes among Saudi CD patients and healthy controls by using the tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP).