Mohajer, Bahram, Abbasi, Nooshin, Pishgar, Farhad, Abdolalizadeh, Amirhussein, Ebrahimi, Hedyeh, Razaviyoun, Taraneh, Mohebbi, Farnam, Eskandarieh, Sharareh, and Sahraian, Mohammad Ali
This meta-analysis explores association of HLA-DRB1 alleles with MS risk in the Middle-east North Africa (MENA) countries. Divided into two groups of alleles (10 studies, 899 cases/1457 controls) and phenotypes (8 studies, 1,040 cases/1,256 controls), Odds ratios (ORs) of DRB1 distribution in MS subjects were assessed using Cochrane RevMan software. DRB1*15 demonstrated significant association with MS in both groups (OR=1.6 and OR=2.51, respectively). In phenotypes, DRB1*03 and DRB1*04 had predisposing role (OR=1.8 and OR=1.9), while DRB1*07 and DRB1*11 were protective (OR=0.56 and OR=0.67). Similar but non-significant trends were seen among alleles, which in sum coincides with a Caucasian-like pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]