The susceptibility to SARS infection
was reported to associate with HLA genotypes in Hongkong and Taiwan
populations. To search for the genetic susceptible factor to SARS
infection in a population of Guangdong, Southern China, a samples
of 95 SARS cases recovered from the disease and 403 sex, age-matched
health controls were typed for HLA-A, -B, -DRB1 alleles, using
standard PCR-SSP typing technique. Our results showed that allelic
frequencies of HLA-A, -B, -DRB1 loci in the SARS cases are similar
to that of the controls. No significant difference was observed
in allelic frequency when the SARS and control groups were compared.
The result suggests that the spreading of SARS infection in Guangdong
is not affected by genetic polymorphism of HLA-A, -B, -DRB1 in
Chinese Guangdong population.
Key words: HLA polymorphism; SARS, genetic susceptibility |