HLA antigens in Asian Indian patients with Graves' disease.

A study of 57 Asian Indian patients with Graves' disease revealed a significant increase in the frequency of HLA-DQW2 (61.4%) as compared to the control population (22.6%) giving a relative risk of 5.4. Less prominent but statistically significant increase in the frequency of HLA-A10 (29.8% patients as opposed to 10.5% controls) and HLA-B8 (28.1% patients as opposed to 8.7% controls) was also observed. Further, patients carrying the phenotypes HLA-A10 and HLA-B8 were more prone to develop the disease at a younger age. Two HLA haplotypes, namely A10-B8 and B8-DR3, were found in significant linkage disequilibrium in our patients with Graves' disease. Patients carrying these haplotypes also had a tendency to develop the disease at an earlier age.