A study of the association between chronic superficial keratitis and polymorphisms in the upstream regulatory regions of DLA-DRB1, DLA-DQB1 and DLA-DQA1

LS BARRIENTOS; G ZAPATA; JA CRESPI; DM POSIK, ; S DÍAZ, ; V IT, ; P PERAL-GARCÍA; G GIOVAMBATTISTA.

VETERINARY IMMUNOLOGY AND IMMUNOPATHOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2013 vol. 156 p. 205 - 210

0165-2427

Canine chronic superficial keratitis (CSK) is an inflammatory corneal disease that primarilyoccurs in German shepherd dogs (GSDs). Several studies support the hypothesis that CSK isan immune-mediated disease. To investigate the genetic factors associated with CSK development,the upstream regulatory regions (URRs) of the DLA-DRB, -DQA and -DQB geneswere genotyped in 60 dogs, including 32 CSK animals. LD analysis identified two blocks(r2 ≤45), with two DLA-DRB1 and five DLA-DQB1 haplotypes. Analysis of DLA-URR alleles/haplotypes showed a significant association between DQB1*-154 [C/T] (p = 0.016) andCSK, suggesting that the T variant may increase the risk for developing CSK disease (OR = 3,95% CI = 1.25?7.68). When haplotype associations were performed, the URR-DQB*CATThaplotype was significantly associated with CSK (p = 0.016), increasing the risk of developthis disease over two-fold (OR = 3, 95%, CI = 1.25?7.68). These results showed that dogshomozygous at DRB1*69 [C/T] had a risk for developing CSK disease that was over fourtimes the risk for heterozygotes. This genetic association supports the previous clinical,histological and pharmacological studies that suggest that CSK is an immune-mediateddisease, and this association could potentially be used to identify susceptible animals.