Aim: To investigate the association of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DRB1 alleles and the variations of polymorphic amino acid changes in DRβ1 chain in Shaanxi Han population with Occult hepatitis B infection (OBI).
Methods: High-resolution HLA-DRB1 genotyping was performed in 107 OBI carriers and 280 normal controls. Sequence information was used to assign which amino acids were encoded at all polymorphic positions. Three-dimensional modeling was performed to explore the effect of the key residues on the HLA-DRB1 molecule.
Results: Strong susceptible association for allele DRB1*07:01 was observed in OBI carriers. The amino acid variation at HLA-DRβ1 molecule revealed susceptible associations for residues Gln^{4β}, Val^{57β}(P9), Ser^{60β}(P9) and Val^{78β}(P4), the amino acids Arg^{4β}, Asp^{57β}(P9), Tyr^{60β}(P9) and Tyr^{78β}(P4) showed protective associations.
Conclusion: Alleles DRB1*07:01 showed strong susceptible associations in OBI carriers. The amino acid variations in DRβ molecules revealed significant molecular markers for susceptibility and protection from OBI in Shaanxi Han population.
【저자키워드】 human leukocyte antigen, amino acid variation, Occult hepatitis B infection, Peptide binding pockets.,