Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by M. leprae, affecting the skin and peripheral nervous system, which is accompanied by the development of polyneuritis, often leading to severe disability of patients. In Russia, despite the sporadic morbidity of leprosy, disability is a serious problem. Search of methods to predict the development of severe leprotic polyneuritis is an urgent task.
OBJECTIVE
To identify genetic markers related to the development of leprotic polyneuropathy.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
A number of patients equal 42 with multibacterial leprosy of the Russian population sample of residents of the Astrakhan endemic leprosy region were examined, including 21 patients with severe polyneuritis and 21 with sensitive disorders of the peripheral nervous system. HLA-genotyping on the alleles of the DRB1, DQA1 and DQB1 loci was carried out by PCR using HLA-DNA-Tech sets. The frequency distribution of haplotypes was determined based on the ratio of the number of individuals «carrying» this allele or haplotype to the total number of individuals in the sample.
RESULTS
More than two-fold (2.4) increase in frequency of HLA-DRB1*15-DQA1*0102-DQB1*0602/08 haplotype occurrence in patients suffering from leprosy with a severe leprotic polyneuritis (II degree of disability according to WHO) was established, which was 0.571 compared to patients with sensitive disorders of the peripheral nervous system (0.238) (p<0.05).
CONCLUSION
The use of the immunogenetic marker in the form of the presence in the patient’s genotype of the HLA-DRB1*15-DQA1*0102-DQB1*0602/08 haplotype makes it possible to predict the development of the severe course of leprotic polyneuritis both at the beginning of the disease and in its long-term period.