Objective: To determine the frequency of Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) class II susceptibility conferring alleles among type 2 Diabetes mellitus patients, in comparison with healthy controls.
Study design: Cross-sectional comparative study.
Place and duration of study: Department of Immunology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi, from January 2009 to April 2010.
Methodology: Patients with non-insulin dependent Diabetes mellitus meeting World Health Organization criteria were studied. These were compared with age and gender matched healthy control subjects. For each subject (patients as well as controls), DNA was extracted from ethylene diamine tetra-acetate sample and HLA class II DRB1 typing was carried out at allele group level (DRB1*01-DRB1*16) by sequence specific primers. Human leukocyte antigen DRB1 type was determined by agarose gel electrophoresis and results were recorded. Frequencies were determined as number of an allele divided by total number of alleles per group; p-value was computed using Pearson's chi-square test.
Results: Among the 100 patients, there were 63 males and 37 females with 68 controls. A total of 13 different HLA DRB1 alleles were detected, with DRB1*15 being the commonest in both the groups. The allele DRB1*13 had statistically significant higher frequency in patient group as compared to controls (p = 0.005).
Conclusion: HLA DRB1*13 was found with a significantly increased frequency in non-insulin dependent Diabetes mellitus.