Table 3.
Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) associations in juvenile myasthenia gravis by racial ancestry or geographical area.
| Type | Symptom onset, y | HLA gene associations | Geographical area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-pubertal MG | <10 <12 | -DR9; Dw13 -DRB1*0404 |
Japan (57, 58) China (59, 60) Norway (61) |
| Post-pubertal MG | 12-18 | -B*08 | Norway (61) |
| Juvenile MG | <15 <20 | -DRB1*0901 -DRB4*0101 |
China (59) Japan (58, 62) |
| Ocular MG | <15 <18 | -DQA1*0302; | China (63) |
| DQB1*0303:02 | Japan (62) | ||
| -DRB1*1302; | |||
| DQA1*0102; | |||
| DQB1*0604 | |||
| -DRB1*0901; | |||
| DQA1*0301; | |||
| DQB1*0303 | |||
| -B*4601; | China (59, 64) | ||
| DRB1*0901 | |||
| -B*4601; | |||
| DRB1*0403 |
MG to myasthenia gravis. Ocular MG when MG has been confined to ocular muscles for >2 years. Y, years. Both serological and molecular HLA typing methods were considered. HLA alleles derived from molecular typing are denoted with an asterix (*) e.g., DRB1
*
0901 is the gene for the serotype DR9. For more detail on the curation of HLA studies see Nel and Heckmann (56).