Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DRB1 alleles in Kuwaiti Arabs with schizophrenia

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Abstract
The frequency of human leukocyte anti- gen DRB1 alleles was determined in a cohort of 194 Kuwaiti Arabs consisting of 80 schizophrenia patients and 114 ethnically matched healthy controls, using a polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primers method. A total of 12 DRB1 alleles were identified in this Kuwaiti cohort. A statistically significant difference was detected in the frequency of alleles DRB1*04 and DRB1*13 between the schizophrenia patients and controls. Allele frequency of DRB1*04 in schizophrenia patients was 14% compared with nearly 7% in controls (P = 0.028). For DRB1*13, the allele frequency was found to be 18% in schizophrenia patients compared with 9% in the controls (P = 0.015). For alleles, DRB1*03, DRB1*07, and DRB1*16 the frequency was higher in controls compared with schizophrenia patients. The frequency of DRB1*01, DRB1*08, DRB1*10, DRB1*11, and DRB1*15 alleles was almost identical in schizophrenia patients and controls. For the remaining alleles, the differences between the two groups were not statistically significant. Am. J. Med. Genet. (Neuropsychiatr. Genet.) 96:870–872, 2000.