Abstract

Objective: Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) is an autoimmune thyroid disease resulting from complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors. The Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) genes have been found to be involved in the susceptibility to HT. In this retrospective study, we aimed to investigate the associations between HLA-DRB1 alleles and patients with HT.
Material and Methods: Forty eight patients with HT were included in this study. We analyzed HLA-DRB1 by polymerase chain reaction with sequence specific oligonucleotide probes (PCR-SSOP), and compared them with 126 unrelated healthy controls.
Results: The HLA-DRB1*03 allele was higher in the HT patients than in the controls (p=0.006). Also, the HLA-DRB1*01 allele was lower in the HT patients than in the controls (p=0.021).
Conclusion: The susceptible and protectable alleles were found as HLA-DRB1*03 and HLA-DRB1*01 alleles respectively in patients with HT in the Kayseri Turkish population, in Turkey. Further studies with a larger cohort are required to confirm the role of HLA-DRB1 alleles in the development of HT in the Turkish population.

Key words: Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, HLA-DRB1 alleles, thyroid gland