Strong association of MuSK antibody-positive myasthenia gravis and HLA-DR14-DQ5.

Journal article

The authors studied the HLA profile of 23 white Dutch patients with muscle-specific kinase antibody-positive myasthenia gravis (MuSK Ab+ MG) and found an association with HLA-DR14-DQ5 (odds ratio 8.5; 95% CI 3.9 to 18.7; p = 4.9 x 10(-5)). Fifty-two percent of the patients carried the DR14 allele compared with 5% of the controls (p = 1.0 x 10(-8)). This association between MuSK Ab+ MG and a relatively rare HLA haplotype differs from the previously described association of early-onset acetylcholine receptor Ab+ MG with HLA-B8-DR3.

Authors: Niks, E; Kuks, J; Roep, B; Haasnoot, G; Verduijn, W

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Neurology
• Volume: 66
• Issue: 11
• Pages: 1772-1774
• Publication date: 2006-06-01
• DOI: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000218159.79769.5c
• EISSN: 1526-632X
• ISSN: 0028-3878
• Language: English
• Keywords: Risk Factors; HLA-DR Antigens; Mutation; Netherlands; Statistics as Topic; Cohort Studies; Adult; Middle Aged; Male; Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; Child; Risk Assessment; Aged; Humans; Adolescent; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Receptors, Cholinergic; Female; Myasthenia Gravis; Prevalence; DNA Mutational Analysis