Abstract: Objective To explore the potential association of HLA-A alleles and genetic susceptibility with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods Polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primer (PCR-SSP) was used to analyze the distribution of HLA-A alleles among 106 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and 122 healthy persons. Results Nineteen out of twenty-four kinds of HLA-A alleles were found from the specimens, including 18 kinds in SLE specimens, and 15 kinds in control specimens. Among them, HLA-A*11 allele was positively associated with SLE (RR=2.4380, EF=0.1502, χ²=12.2440, P=0.0005, Pc=0.0095). For A*01 and A*24, although the P values were less than 0.05, the Pc values were more than 0.05 (0.9462 or 0.2356, respectively). Conclusions The results indicate that HLA-A*11 may be the susceptible allele or may be closely linked with the susceptible genes in Chinese SLE patients.

Key words: Lupus erythematosus, systemic, Genes, MHC class I, Polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primer