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Association of HLA-A*3303-B*4403-DRB1*1302 haplotype, but not of TNFA promoter and NKp30 polymorphism, with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) in the Japanese population

Genes & Immunity volume 3, pages 477–481 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Herpes zoster is a common disease caused by reactivation of the varicella zoster virus (VZV). In a small number of herpes zoster patients, pain persists beyond 4 weeks or more after healing of vesicular eruptions; this condition is termed postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). Positive associations of human histocompatibility leukocyte antigens (HLA) class I antigens, A33 and B44, with PHN in the Japanese population have been reported. Our hypothesis is that susceptibility genes to PHN might exist in the HLA region and the study objective is to further examine possible associations of genes in HLA class I, II and III regions, HLA-A, -B, -DRB1, tumor necrosis factor α (TNFA) promoter, and a natural killer cell activating receptor, NKp30 polymorphisms with PHN. Although TNFA or NKp30 in the class III region had been considered as a candidate locus, we found no associations of TNFA promoter or NKp30 polymorphisms with PHN in this study. We demonstrated that HLA-A*3303, -B*4403 and -DRB1*1302 alleles were significantly associated with PHN (P=0.0007 for A*3303, P=0.001 for B*4403 and P=0.001 for DRB1*1302). The frequency of the HLA-A*3303-B*4403-DRB1*1302 haplotype was also significantly higher in the PHN patients than in the healthy controls (P=0.0039). Our results suggest that this haplotype might be related to the pathogenesis of PHN.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Drs Takeo Juji and Kenji Tadokoro (Japanese Red Cross Blood Center) for encouragement, and Drs Hidenori Tanaka and Junichi Ueki (Japanese Red Cross Blood Center) for technical help and suggestions. This study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) and for Scientific Research on Priority Areas (C) ‘Medical Genome Science’ from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Research, Tokyo Metropolitan Red Cross Blood Center, Tokyo, 150-0012, Japan

    M Sato, K Kashiwase, Y Ishikawa & T Yabe

  2. Department of Human Genetics, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    M Sato, J Ohashi, N Tsuchiya & K Tokunaga

  3. Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Relief Center, University of Tokyo Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

    M Sato, H Arita & K Hanaoka

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  1. M Sato
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Correspondence to T Yabe.

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Sato, M., Ohashi, J., Tsuchiya, N. et al. Association of HLA-A*3303-B*4403-DRB1*1302 haplotype, but not of TNFA promoter and NKp30 polymorphism, with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) in the Japanese population. Genes Immun 3, 477–481 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.gene.6363890

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