Abstract
Recently, genotyping of HLA class II alleles by digestion of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplified polymorphic DNA region with restriction endonucleases (PCR-RFLP) has been reported and claimed to be a simple and reliable technique. We tested the use of PCR -RFLP for genotyping of DQA 1, DQB 1, DPB 1 and DRB 1 alleles of 40 normal individuals and 19 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In agreement with previous reports, we observed an association of SLE with the DRB 1*1501-DQA 1*0102-DQB 1*0602 haplotype and noted an unreported association with DPB 1*0501. Although these observations must be confirmed with larger sample sizes, we believe that the PCR-RFLP is simpler and more practical than the sequence-specific oligonucleotides (PCR-SSO) for genotyping and can be invaluable to the more widespread molecular determination of HLA-class II specificities, including in non-specialized laboratories.
