Allele and haplotype frequencies of the Czech Graves´disease patients

We analyzed the HLA-<i>DRB1</i>, HLA-<i>DQA1</i> and HLA-<i>DQB1</i> allelic groups in 206 retrospectively observed Czech patients who had been diagnosed with Graves' disease according to hormonal profile (low/suppressed TSH with simultaneously elevated freeT4, freeT3, presence of thyrotropin receptor antibodies (TRAK)) as well as sonographic examination of the thyroid gland. Patients were recruited during the years 2017-2020 mainly from the outpatients of the Institute of Endocrinology in Prague. These patients are continuously monitored at the Institute, which gives us detailed long-term or even lifelong retrospective information on the status of their disease. Next generation sequencing performed on a MiSeq (Illumina) was used for haplotyping. In the three HLA genes (<i>DRB1</i>, <i>DQA1</i> and <i>DQB1</i>), exon 2 was amplified, since this part of the HLA molecule determines its antigenic properties. Amplification of DNA sequences was performed using certified kits (CE 0197, CE IVD) of allele-specific pre-coated PCR strips PROTRANS S4 HLA-DRB1 * (cat. No. 34 04), PROTRANS S3 HLA-DQB1 * (cat. No. 33 09) and PROTRANS S2 HLA-DQA1 * (cat. No. 32 08) from the manufacturer PentaGen, Protrans, Germany.