Is renal graft survival predetermined by the recipient's cytokine profile?
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to K I Welsh.
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We first examined all the then known alleles (1997) at the HLA-A, B, Bw, C, DRB1, 3, 4 and 5, and DQB1 loci in 55 late-onset (>65y) AD cases and 73 elderly controls from Oxford. We found an association of HLA-B7 with late-onset AD (odds ratio = 3.1, corrected P = 0.04) that was limited to apolipoprotein E epsilon4-negative subjects (odds ratio = 5.1, corrected P = 0.005). We then studied linkages with Class III genes and, finally, we sought to replicate our HLA-B7 result in cohorts from Montreal and Nottingham. Altogether, we used 299 histopathologically confirmed cases of late-onset AD and 175 controls. Our initial, clear finding was not replicated in Montreal and Nottingham, however. We also failed to support any other previously reported association of AD with an HLA gene. Though we cannot exclude distinct linkages in different cohorts as an explanation of the conflicting results of HLA/AD studies, we conclude that there is no compelling evidence of a strong, direct association between late-onset AD and any HLA Class I or II allele.
DNA samples from 78 patients with classical or definite rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 132 healthy controls were analysed by the Southern blotting method, using two DNA probes: the first to the immunoglobulin mu heavy-chain switch region (S mu), in conjunction with the SstI restriction endonuclease, and the second to the D14S1 region, in conjunction with the HindIII restriction endonuclease. The homozygous phenotype for the 6.9 kb S mu fragment was decreased in the patient group (7.8%) compared to controls (19.1%) (P = 0.04). The homozygous phenotype for the 10.3 kb D14S1 fragment was increased in the patient group (38.5%) compared to controls (21.2%) (P = 0.02). The increase was more pronounced in the DR4-positive patients (51.2%) (P versus DR4-positive controls = 0.009). These results suggest that genes on chromosome 14 are involved in the genetics of RA.