DQA1*03011 allele: protective or an adverse effect on the development of sarcoidosis; preliminary study.

Background: Sarcoidosis (SA) is a multisystem granulomatous disorder of unknown etiology. It seems likely that in genetically different predisposed hosts, the same antigen(s) may cause the development of sarcoid Th1 response. The interaction of the T-cell receptor with the human leukocyte antigen-DQA1*03011 peptide-complex can affect T lymphocytes activation in a dose-response manner.

Objectives/methods: To test occurrence of DQA1*03011 allele in SA, we compared the distribution of DQA1 alleles in 32 SA patients, 37 TB patients and in 58 healthy volunteers, using a PCR-SSP "high-resolution" method.

Results: Our results revealed that after Bonferroni correction DQA1*03011 were less common in SA patients than in the controls (OR 0.16, 95%CI 0.03-0.75). In TB, DQA1*0303 were significantly more frequent and DQA1*0505 less present as compared to the controls (OR 11.03, 95% CI 1.20-95.80, OR 0.29, 95% CI 0.01-0.88). Comparing DQA1 alleles in both patient groups, DQA1*0501, DQA1*0505 alleles were more common and DQA1*03011, DQA1*0302, DQA1*0303 were less common after Bonferroni correction in SA than in TB.

Conclusion: We revealed that DQA1*03011 allele was less common in SA than in the controls and TB. It seems possible that a low frequency of DQA1*03011 occurrence may be also involved in the etiopathogenesis of SA.