Studies on the compatibility of HLA-Class II alleles in patient couples with severe pre-eclampsia using PCR-RFLP methods.

PROBLEM: In this study, we investigated whether or not significant compatibility of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-class II alleles exists between spouses with severe pre-eclampsia (PE) (including gestational hypertension, GH). METHOD OF STUDY: The HLA-class II genotypes were determined using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. The number of incompatible alleles in 57 patient couples with severe PE (including GH) were determined, and compared with that in 74 control couples.
RESULTS: The number of patient couples and control couples with each number of mismatched alleles of the HLA-DR, -DQ, and -DP genotypes was as follows. The number of patient couples with zero, one, two, three, and four-allele mismatches was 41 (72.9%), and with five and six-allele mismatches was 16 (27.1%). On the other hand, the number of control couples with zero, one, two, three, and four-allele mismatches was 38 (51.4%), and with five and six-allele mismatches was 36 (48.6%). Thus, the number of patient couples with five and six-allele mismatches was significantly lower compared with that in control couples. The same result was obtained as regards the mismatched alleles of the HLA-DR, -DQ, and -DP phenotypes.
CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that significant compatibility of HLA-class II alleles between spouses is implicated in the genesis of PE (including GH).