Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate the correlation between the efficacy of immunosuppressive therapy (IST) in children with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles. The polymerase chain reaction-sequence based typing high-resolution genotyping method was used to profile the HLA alleles of 115 SAA cases that were treated with rabbit-antithymocyte globulin (r-ATG) + cyclosporine (CsA) immunosuppressive therapy and 222 normal control subjects. The aim was to compare the frequency distribution of HLA alleles among the IST-effective group, the IST-ineffective group and the healthy control group. The results showed that the gene frequencies (GFs) of HLA-B*15:02, B*40:02, B*48:01, DRB1*09:01, C*01:02, C*03:04, DQB1*03:03 and DQB1*06:02 in the IST-effective group were significantly higher compared with those in the healthy control group, with a statistically significant difference. The GFs of HLA-B*15:11, B*38:01, B*39:05, DRB1*15:01, C*01:02 and C*08:22 in the IST-ineffective group were significantly increased compared with those in the healthy control group, with a statistically significant difference. The gene frequency of HLA-A*29:01 in the IST-effective group was significantly reduced compared with that in the IST-ineffective group, and the difference was statistically significant. In summary, IST efficacy in children with SAA that express the HLA-B*15:02, B*40:02, B*48:01, DRB1*09:01, C*01:02, C*03:04, DQB1*03:03 and DQB1*06:02 alleles may be superior, while the efficacy may be mitigated in children with SAA who express HLA-A*29:01, B*15:11, B*38:01, B*39:05, DRB1*15:01, C*01:02, C*08:22 alleles.