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ASSOCIATION OF HLA CLASS I ALLELES WITH RECURRENCE OF HEPATITIS C VIRUS INFECTION AFTER LIVER TRANSPLANTATION.
Jian-Qing He , K. Nelson , R.L. Carithers, Jr. , A.M. Larson , J.D. Perkins and L.K. Gaur . Vancouver BC, Canada, St. Paul
s Hospital, University British Columbia McDonald Research Labs ; Puget Sound Blood Center ; University of Washington and Seattle WA, Wa Natl Primate Res Ctr .
A total of 116 Caucasian HCV patients who received liver transplantation from 1990 to 1998 were analysed for HLA class I antigens and recurrence of HCV infection. Patients were divided into two categories, those with HCV recurrence versus those that remained disease free. Statistical analysis for association between disease and polymorphic HLA-A and -B alleles was performed by Monte Carlo tests using CLUMP software. Comparison of the two loci between patients and controls was performed using Chi-square analysis. The Kaplan-Meier product-limit estimate was used for univariate analysis of time-dependent events with comparison between groups performed via the Wilcoxon test. The Cox proportional hazard was used for multivariate analysis for time-dependent events. Seventy-eight out of 116 recipients (67.2%) developed HCV disease during a median of 23 months follow up period. The HLA-A antigen frequencies were not significantly different between HCV recurrent and non- recurrent groups (p=0.603), but the HLA-B antigen frequencies were significantly different (p=0.02). B44 antigen frequency was significantly increased in HCV recurrent group (20.5% v.s. 7.9%, p=0.015), B35 antigen frequency was decreased in the HCV recurrent group (4.5% v.s. 11.8%, p = 0.038), while B7 antigen frequency also tended to be lower in HCV recurrent group (9.0% v.s. 17.1%, p=0.07). HLA-B44 was associated with more rapid development of recurrent hepatitis by univariate analysis (P=0.03). Patients with B35 or B7 antigens were associated with resistance to recurrent hepatitis by univariate analysis (p=0.033or by multivariate analysis (p=0.02). HLA class I alleles have shown a significant association with HCV recurrence after liver transplantation.