No difference in the nucleotide sequence of the DQ beta beta 1 domain between narcoleptic and healthy individuals with DR2,Dw2.

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder completely associated with HLA-DR2,Dw2. We demonstrated the 100% presence of three DQ beta fragments (EcoRI 2.4-kb, BamHI 2.9-kb, and PstI 12-kb) in narcoleptic patients that were detected in healthy DR2 controls only at decreased frequencies. In this paper, we have cloned the DQ beta gene from three Japanese narcoleptic patients and sequenced their beta 1 domain in order to study the sequence polymorphisms that might exist in the DQ beta genes of patients, but no difference in sequence could be found between narcoleptic and healthy individuals, suggesting that narcolepsy is not due to mutation in the DQ beta gene. In this context, a possible role of the HLA class II antigens in narcolepsy is discussed.