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Human leukocyte antigen has been associated with various renal disorders, and specific HLA alleles are known to confer susceptibility to multiple immune and non-immune kidney diseases. We aimed To study the association between HLA alleles and ESKD in a sample of the Iraqi Arab population and compare it with data from other Arab countries.
A retrospective analysis of HLA typing of 564 Iraqi Arab adults, 182 transplant recipients, 182 respective healthy donors, and 200 matched healthy controls was performed. Patients and healthy donors of Iraqi Kurdish ethnicity were omitted. The samples were typed for HLA-A,-B,-DRB1,-and DQB1 loci by Sequence-Specific Oligonucleotide PCR using One Lambda labType® SSO typing kits. The product signals were detected by Luminex-200 and XY platform and were analyzed by One Lambda DNA software. We also performed a literature analysis to determine whether the association of HLA to ESKD can be similar across different Arab countries’ data.
The mean age of the study group is 34.2 years (range 14 – 55), with 325 (70%) males. The study group's most common HLA allele combinations are (HLA*A02, HLA*B51, DRB1*03, and DQB1*03). Few HLA allele combinations displayed significant associations with ESKD (HLA*A29, HLA*A68, DRB1*15, and DQB1*06). Specifically, DQB1*06 showed the highest strength of association (OR=4.1, P 0.001). The presumably protective allele combination is HLA*B15, HLA*B35, and DQB1*02). All Arab countries share HLA*A02 as the most expected allele. Iraqi ESKD patients share HLA*A29 and HLA*A68 as risky alleles with Kuwaiti and Yemeni patients (P 0.001).
Our study’s findings will help determine possible ESKD susceptible roles of various HLA alleles in the Iraqi Arab population. Furthermore, it makes the basis for more extensive Iraqi data for a better future selection of potential and better compatible donors.