Immunogenetic features in children with narcolepsy
Objective To study the immunogenetic features in children with narcolepsy for diagnosis,treatment and long-term prognosis. Methods Forty patients were diagnosed as narcolepsy based on clinical characteristics,routine examination,and multiple sleep latency tests (MSLT). All patients were checked for HLA-DRB1*15 low resolution,DRB1*15 and DQB1*6 high resolution by PCR/SSP(sequence specific primers),and gene frequencies of these alleles were compared with those in control group. Results All patients but three were HLA-DRB1*15 positive (92.5%) and most of DRB1*15 (94.59%) were DRB1*1501 (RR=23.33,χ 2=47.12,P c0.01),and DQB1*0602 increased markedly too (RR=20.69,χ 2=43.61,P c0.01). Two patients were DRB1*1502 and DQB1*0601 positive. Conclusion HLA-DRB1*1501 and DQB1*0602 alleles were significantly associated with narcolepsy. They are the main markers in immunogenetic features of this disease.