Abstract
INTRODUCTION: asthma is a complex disease caused by the interaction of several genes. Some of them have a protective effect and some others contribute to disease onset. This study focuses on a region of the short arm of chromosome 6, where the genes encoding the major histocompatibility complex called HLA are located. This short arm plays an important role in the pathogenesis of asthma. METHODS: our study included 61 subjects, 30 non-asthmatic, non-allergic subjects and 31 patients with more than a 2-year history of allergic asthma. Atopic asthma was confirmed by skin tests and HLA-typing of class II which were performed following the principle of the serological technique of separation by FluoroBeads B. RESULTS: statistical analysis showed that HLA - DR11 and DQ2 genes were significantly more frequent in the asthmatic group compared to the control. The results were as follows: HLA-DR11 with p=0.05 and HLA-DQ2 with p=0.002. Based on this results HLA markers could be associated with asthma. On the other hand HLA-DQ6 marker was substantially higher in the control group than in the asthmatic subjects with p=0.003. CONCLUSION: HLA DR11 and DQ2 markers could be potential markers of susceptibility to asthma, while HLA-DQ6 may have a protective effect.