Evidence of a strong, positive association between atopy and the HLA class II alleles DR4 and DR7

Abstract

We observed that HLA-DR 4 and DR7 alleles are significantly implicated in their susceptibility to the disease and suggest that this susceptibility is more related to atopy than to specific responses to allergens. According to previous studies, we could also submit that in atopic patients with asthma, DR4 alleles at the least, could be more closely associated with atopy than with asthma per se. Conversely, we suggest that some allelic DQA1 and DQB1 sequences might confer protection against the disease.