Analysis of T cell epitope in Asian type multiple sclerosis

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We studied the polymorphism of HLA-A-DPBl gene in 90 Japanese patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) including 44 patients with Asian type MS showing recurrent opticomyelitis and 46 patients with Westem type MS with disseminated central nervous system involvement. We earlier found a significant association between an HLA-DRB1^<**> 1501-DRB5^<**>0101 haplotype and susceptibility to Western type but not Asian type MS.In the present work, we found that the frequency of DPB1^<**>0501 allele was significantly increased in the patients with Asian type MS (88.6% vs. 63.0%, p^<COIT><0.05), but not Western type MS,as compared with findings in healthy control subjects. In addition, Asian type MS showed a higher age of onset, a higher Expanded Disability Status Scale score, a greater visual impairment, a higher frequency of hyperprolactinemia and higher cell counts and protein contents in the cerebrospinal fluid than did Westem type MS.Our data provide further evidence that Asian and Western type MS are distinct regarding the immunogenetic backgound, and suggested that Asian type MS is a HLA-DPBl^<**>0501-restricted autoimmune disease.