Assessment of the influence of HLA class I and class II loci on the prevalence of keloid disease in Jamaican Afro-Caribbeans.

Keloid disease (KD) is a common abnormal cutaneous fibrotic disorder of unknown aetiopathogenesis. KD is reported to have a strong genetic component as it is often familial and has a high incidence in certain ethnicities, in particular those of Afro-Caribbean origin. Genetic risk factors combined with aberrant lesional inflammatory responses point to the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system as a viable target for investigating disease aetiology. Sequence specific primer polymerase chain reaction with allele sequencing was used to determine HLA-DQA1 and DQB1 allele frequencies (AF) for 165 KD patients and 119 healthy controls of black Jamaican Afro-Caribbean origin. HLA class I alleles A*01, A*03, A*25, B*07 and Cw*08:02, previously identified as KD associated in a different ethnicity, were also analysed. Allele sequencing confirmed typing accuracy but no statistically significant differences in AF were identified between KD patients and controls. Furthermore, KD subgroups including patient gender, family history and multiple- or single-site scarring did not show significant allele-disease associations.