Association of HLA haplotype with alopecia areata in Chinese Hans

Background Some studies have shown discrepancies in human leucocyte antigen (HLA) associated with alopecia areata (AA) between different ethnic populations. Objective To investigate whether HLA‐I, ‐DQA1 and ‐DQB1 alleles and the HLA haplotype are associated with AA, and the correlation between the HLA haplotype profile, age of onset and severity of AA in Chinese Hans. Methods The polymerase chain reaction‐sequence specific primer (PCR‐SSP) method was used to analyse the frequencies of HLA class I, ‐DQA1 and ‐DQB1 alleles in 192 patients with AA and 252 controls in Chinese Hans. The linkage disequilibrium was calculated using the 2 × 2 table. Results The 24 two‐locus haplotypes [including A*02‐B*18, A*02‐B*27, A*02‐B*52, A*02‐Cw*0704, A*02‐DQA1*0104, A*02‐DQB1*0604, A*02‐DQB1*0606, B*18‐Cw*0704, B*18‐DQA1*0104, B*18‐DQA1*0302, B*18‐DQB1*0606, B*27‐Cw*0704, B*27‐DQA1*0104, B*27‐DQA1*0302, B*52‐Cw*0704, B*52‐DQA1*0104, B*52‐DQA1*0302, B52‐DQB1*0606, Cw*0704‐DQA1*0104, Cw*0704‐DQA1*0302, Cw*0704‐DQB1*0606, DQA1*0104‐DQB1*0604, DQA1*0104‐DQB1*0606, DQA1*0302‐DQB1*0606 (P